Untold Stories of Us: A Collection of One-shots
by Galore23
Summary: A collection of Rucas one-shots based on prompts and requests sent in via tumblr. These stories range from present day to future Rucas and are written based on a general prompt, a specific scene/situation from the show, or a certain quote/song lyric.
1. Jump Shot

**Prompt:** Riley and Lucas playing basketball

 **Title:** Jump Shot

–

"You know, your feet are really dragging there Lucas. You might wanna pick it up if you want the slightest chance of winning," Riley dribbled the ball down the court, glancing back at Lucas as he followed closely behind her.

"That's pretty big talk for a girl who can't even remember to tie her shoes before stepping onto the court," Lucas teased, fully aware that both of her shoes were, in fact, completely tied.

"Huh?" Riley glanced down at her shoes. The second her eyes disconnected from the court in front of her, her feet tangled together and she went flying forward.

Lucas stole the basketball the second she hit the ground, and made a play for the basket. The ball went in easily, and Lucas raised his fists in the air, feeling extremely proud of himself.

"Whose feet are dragging now?" Lucas taunted, smirking at Riley as she scrambled to stand on her feet.

"Yeah, yeah. I bet you feel real proud of yourself for making the clumsy girl trip and fall. Well I got news for ya Lucas, I fall six times a day, just like this. I am unfazed. Let's go again," Riley brushed off her knees, and got into position.

"Okay, now you're talkin'," Lucas raised his eyebrows and smiled slyly. "But you're still going down."

Lucas dribbled the ball, moving fast and effortlessly to the other side of the court. However, as fast as Lucas was moving, Riley was even faster. Call it adrenaline, or the unhinged will to win, but a force took over her then that caused her to become much more aggressive than she had ever been before. Riley lunged for the ball, successfully stealing it from Lucas' grip. As she went to make her jump shot, Riley's elbow connected with Lucas' nose, causing him to stumble backwards, grasping at his nose in pain.

"Yes! In your face!" Riley cheered as the ball swooshed into the basket. Wondering why Lucas was not next to her any longer, she spun around to see a bleeding Lucas holding his nose and squinting up at the ceiling. "Oh no!"

"Guess you meant, literally in your face, huh?" Lucas joked, attempting to show her that he wasn't in as much pain as he truly was.

"Oh god, Lucas I am so sorry!" Riley ran over to him, grabbing his arm and leaning in close to inspect the damage.

"Guess you weren't kidding when you said you got really competitive when you played basketball."

"Playing it, watching it - pretty much anything involving basketball makes me a little... intense," Riley gently touched the bridge of his nose and he winced at her touch.

"Oh I remember," Lucas assured her, referring to the long-winded rant she went on about the Knicks a few years ago.

"Here, I think I have some tissues in my backpack," Riley led Lucas over to the bench where they had placed their things before they had started playing.

"I'm fine, Riley. Really. It's not that bad," Lucas tried to convince her as she held a tissue to his nose.

"I feel terrible," Riley sat back on the bench and tucked her hair behind her ear. "See, I told you I was clumsy. I should just wear a caution sign around my neck that says - 'Super Klutz - May cause severe damage to the people around her."

"No, come on. It's one of the things I love most about you," Lucas looked over at her and placed his hand on top of hers.

"Yeah right," Riley blushed, shifting nervously in her seat.

"No, really. I mean, don't get me wrong I don't like when you fall and hurt yourself or anything. And I could deal without the blood," he gestured to his nose and smiled. "But it's what makes you... Riley. And I wouldn't change that for the world," Lucas declared, smiling at her through the tissues.

Riley examined Lucas' expression carefully, trying to find any sign that he was making a joke. She couldn't find one.

"We should probably take you to the hospital," Riley suggested, already grabbing her backpack and water bottle from the bench.

"Yeah, okay," Lucas grabbed his phone and wallet with one hand, and clutched the tissue to his nose with the other. "But just so you know, I was totally winning before you took me out with that elbow."

"Oh, please did you not see my footwork as I grabbed the ball from your hands, it was completely-"

Lucas didn't let her finish. All in one quick motion, he grabbed her hand and spun her into his chest, intending for his lips to meet hers. Instead, as fate would have it, their noses collided with an uncomfortable "bang" and both Lucas and Riley grabbed their noses in pain.

"Ow," Lucas cried, not even attempting to hide his pain anymore.

"Ah, okay, hospital, let's go!" Riley grabbed his hand and pulled him forward through the gymnasium doors.

As they made their way to the emergency room, Riley was already planning her strategy for winning their next game, and Lucas was planning his strategy for how he was going to kiss her again. Hopefully this time without any injuries.


	2. Blurred Vision

Title: Blurred Vision

Point of View: Riley's

Prompt: Riley becoming jealous when she and Lucas are a couple

Setting/Summary: This takes place at one of Lucas' bull riding competitions when they are seniors in high school. Riley sees Lucas talking to another girl and gets a little visit from the green eyed monster.

—

She was tall, she was blonde, she had hips that swayed this way and that, and she was flirting with my boyfriend. Her back was turned and I was all the way across the room, but I could see in the way she was twirling her hair and sticking out her hip that she was pulling out all the stops with her flirtatious commentary. I may have been awkward and a little naive, but I knew a flirtatious hip pop when I saw one. I took a few steps closer, making sure I was hidden from Lucas' view. I wanted to get close enough to hear them without him seeing me.

"Lucas, I'm so excited to see you ride Hurricane tonight. I heard he was the toughest bull to come along since Tombstone," the girl was saying, inching closer to Lucas.

"Uh, yeah, it should be a challenge, but I'm ready for it," Lucas replied, taking a step back. I quickly moved from the pillar I was standing behind to a few bales of hay stacked high enough to shield me from their view.

Riley, come on, you're above this. You are completely secure in your relationship with Lucas now. You talked to him, you understand your feelings for one another. A girl who was all flirtatious hips and luscious hair could never come between you two. You have nothing to worry about.

"Oh I know you are. I heard you beat the record a few years ago. That's so impressive," Hips cooed, stepping even closer to him than before and nudging his shoulder playfully.

"That's it!" I muttered to myself, standing up straight and marching angrily towards them. Before I could get anywhere, someone grabbed me by the belt loop in my jeans and pulled me back behind the bales of hay.

"Hey!" I yelled, trying my best to get away.

"Is for horses. Or in your case, the perfect hiding place." I turned around to see Maya crouching next to me wearing overalls and a cowboy hat.

"Maya, what are you doing?" I whispered, annoyance washing over me.

"What am I doing? Riley, you're crouching behind the stuff they give to the horses as food, eavesdropping on Lucas and 'tall, blonde, and hip-y' over there. You've officially reached a new low," she informed me, removing a piece of hay from my hair.

"I am not eavesdropping. I'm just... Inspecting the hay that they're feeding the animals here. You know, making sure it's up to code... And whatnot," I stammered unconvincingly. Maya gave me a look indicating that she saw right through me.

"You're jealous!" Maya exclaimed, a bemused smile plastered on her face.

"I am not!" I shot back quickly.

"Man, it's like the Missy from 7th grade incident all over again! Please stick your finger up Lucas' nose again, that was classic!" Maya begged, clearly enjoying herself.

"No! Maya, I'm much more mature now. Lucas and I have been together for almost a year, we're about to graduate. I'm above jealousy," I tried to convince her, holding my head up high and making sure I sounded as confident as possible.

In the distance I heard a nerve grating cackle as Hips laughed at something Lucas was saying. I ground my teeth together and looked at Maya, almost positive she could see angry steam coming out of my ears.

"Honey, you know you don't have anything to worry about. That boy is so in love with you, not even the amazon with the weird hip condition over there could change that," Maya reassured me.

"I know right! What's with that? Does she have to stick her hip out like that all the time?" I asked, genuinely curious.

Maya laughed and wrapped her arm around me, pulling me into a hug.

"You really think I don't have anything to worry about? As weird as it is, the hip pop is a good move," I told her.

"Riley, I promise. You have absolutely nothing to worry about." Maya and I both stood up, preparing to walk in the opposite direction.

"Oh Lucas, stop it, you're too cute!" Hips giggled, her high-pitched voice echoing across the arena.

Before Maya could stop me again, I bolted over to where Lucas and Hips were standing by the horse stables. In one fell swoop, I hip bumped her so hard she fell into a pile of hay that was scattered on the ground for the horses to eat.

"Now that's a hip pop! BOOM!" I yelled, feeling extremely proud of myself. Maya ran up behind me, surveying the scene.

"Man, I didn't see that coming! Good one Riles!" Maya smiled and patted me on the back. We looked at each other, preparing to do our handshake of awesomeness. Leg cross, hair flip, "stop it."

"Riley?" Lucas interrupted, looking at me like I was a complete stranger.

I looked from him, to the poor girl on the floor trying her best to remove the hay that was sprinkled all through her blonde locks, and shook my head in disbelief. This wasn't me. This was jealousy. And I hated what it had made turned me into.

"I... I'm so sorry," I told her, hurrying over to help her up off the floor. "I honestly don't know what came over me."

"I'm guessing you're the girlfriend?" she asked, taking my hand and pushing up from the floor, brushing the hay off of her dress as she did so.

"Yeah... Or at least I was before I turned into this insane, jealous, freak," I explained, turning slightly to look at Lucas. "I really am sorry. I guess I saw you guys talking and just sort of... lost it."

She looked back at Lucas and smiled slightly.

"Hey, it's okay. If he were my boyfriend I would have done a lot worse," she admitted. "Good luck tonight Lucas," she told him as she turned to walk away.

"Thanks Naomi," he called back to her.

Lucas walked over to me and I turned towards him, ready to apologize until I was blue in the face.

"I know, I know, I'm so sorry. That wasn't me. I don't even know who that was. Please don't be mad at me, I just-" I tried to explain.

Lucas cut me off by wrapping his arms around me, pulling me in close. That was not the reaction I was expecting.

"You're not mad? I can't even tell you how many times I've told you that thinking before you act is always the way to go and here I am reacting like a maniac without even giving it a second thought," I sputtered out quickly.

"Riley, I know that's not who you are. You're the type of girl to realize she made a mistake and to do what she can to fix it. And yeah, you acted a little crazy," Lucas said, smiling to himself. "But you apologized and helped Naomi up. That's who you are. And I love that about you."

I smiled up at him and he kissed me on the forehead.

"That was an awesome hip check though," Maya chimed in from behind us.

"Who do you think I learned it from?" I raised my eyebrows at her and she smiled.

"That's my girl!" Maya praised, walking over to us.

The three of us walked side by side to watch the other competitors in the ring. I looked back up at Lucas and he smiled down at me. Jealousy's a tricky emotion. It takes over and completely blurs your vision, making it almost impossible to see straight. But if you trust in yourself and the people around you, you can learn how to control it. I knew that it wouldn't be my last run in with the green eyed monster, but when it came around again, I would be prepared because I was finally starting to realize how much Lucas cared about me. And I definitely knew how much I cared about him.


	3. Catch Me

Title: Catch Me

Prompt: Lucas teaching Riley how to ride a horse

–

Riley looked into his eyes. A little scared, a little unsure, and completely out of her comfort zone, she prepared to step into the unknown.

"Okay, it's just you and me," she whispered, adjusting her boots and taking a step forward."If this is going to work, we need to have mutual trust and respect for each other. I put my faith in you, and you don't hurt me. We have a deal?"

The horse whinnied in response and Riley stepped backwards, afraid to get any closer.

"Okay, that's definitely not what I meant!"

"Riley, you've been on a horse before, remember? Why are you so nervous?" Lucas emerged from the barn and met Riley in front of the training ring.

"Well, Lucas that was different you see, because I was with you and we were inside the school where we had very limited space to explore. But this time I'll be by myself in the open field where the horse could just run off and-"

"Riley, hey, look at me." Lucas lifted her chin and smiled reassuringly. "You are not alone. I'll be right here, every step of the way. And I'm literally holding onto the rope, so Trigger isn't going anywhere."

"You know, it's really not comforting that the horse's name is Trigger," Riley bit her bottom lip and looked up at the horse nervously.

"Take that up with Pappy Joe. Now, come on, up you go," Lucas stood beside the horse, clasped his hands together, and held them low to the ground. He looked up at Riley expectantly and she furrowed her brows in confusion.

"Ooh, are we cheerleading now?" Riley beamed, her naive innocence evident in her excitement.

Lucas shook his head, and smiled up at her.

"No, I'm giving you a leg up," Lucas explained and Riley gave him a look that indicated that he might as well have been speaking another language. "Grab the reins and hold onto the saddle. Then put your foot in my hand, and I'll lift you up onto the horse."

"Oh! Got it," Riley gave him one sharp nod, and did as he instructed.

"Okay, one, two, three!" Lucas lifted Riley and she swung her leg up and over the horse. She landed with a not-so-graceful thud, but managed to stay on the horse's back.

"Hey this isn't so bad," Riley announced, as she took a look around the farm. "Wow, Texas looks even more beautiful from up here Lucas. Look at the trees over-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Riley leaned back, lost her balance, and started falling towards the ground. Before she could hit the dirt, Lucas swiftly caught her in his arms.

"Whoa! You caught me," Riley sighed in relief and looked up at Lucas gratefully.

"Yeah, maybe we should have started you off on the pony after all," Lucas brushed a piece of hair out of her eyes and tucked it behind her ear.

"One good thing came out of this though," Riley pointed out.

"What's that?" Lucas breathed, fully aware of how close he was to her.

"I'm not so sure about Trigger and me, but you and I are definitely starting our relationship off with mutual trust and respect," Riley gave him a sly smile and attempted a wink.

Lucas laughed, and set Riley carefully on the ground. Even after Riley had regained her balance, she did not step back from him. They remained close, Lucas with one hand on Riley's back, Riley with one arm around his shoulders.

"Still glad I came? Even if I can barely stay on a horse?" Riley wondered, still breathless from the fall and the way that Lucas made her feel.

"Does this answer your question?" Lucas whispered as he leaned in close, placing one hand on her cheek. His eyes moved down to her lips, and then back up to meet her gaze before gently touching his lips to hers.

Riley pulled back from the kiss and looked up at Lucas questioningly. "I have to get back on that horse don't I?"

"Oh yeah," Lucas nodded and gestured for Riley to put her foot back in his hands.

"Okay, I trust you," Riley announced as she grabbed the reins and moved to do as she was instructed. "Trigger, we now know that Lucas will catch me if I fall, but let's not give him another chance to? Okay?"

With that, Riley got back on the horse, and when she fell for the second and third and fourth time, Lucas was there to catch her.


	4. Don't Listen to Them

Prompt: "Don't listen to them. Don't you EVER listen to them."

Point of View: Lucas'

The slam of the door echoed in my ears. There were tears streaming down her face and her cheeks were flushed pink, as if she had been crying for more than just a few minutes.

"Riley, what's wrong?"

She wiped her tears away quickly, trying her best to regain her composure.

"Lucas. What are you doing here?"

I was sitting in her family's living room, my homework spread out amongst the couch and coffee table as I waited for her to get home from cheerleading practice.

"Your dad let me in. Riley, why are you crying?" I stood up and walked over to her, but before I could reach her she turned away quickly and headed towards the kitchen.

"Nothing, I just stubbed my toe on one of the steps on the way up. You know how clumsy I am." She reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a water bottle.

"Riley, I know you. This is more than just a stubbed toe. What happened?" I pressed, hurrying to meet her in front of the kitchen table.

She opened the drawer that held the utensils and started rearranging spoons and forks, anything to avoid my gaze. I appeared beside her and gently touched her arm.

"Look at me," I whispered.

Slowly, her gaze met mine and I could see how hurt she was. The light in her eyes that could fill an entire football stadium on a normal day had fizzled out entirely. Now they were just empty.

"They don't think I'm good enough to be with you," her voice, barely audible, broke as these words sputtered out.

"What? Who?" I wanted to know. She spun around and headed towards her bedroom. I hurried behind her, struggling to catch up. "Riley!"

"It really doesn't matter. They just... don't think we should be together," Riley revealed, as she walked over to the bay window to sit down.

"I'm really confused, Riley. We've been together for over a year. We're happy," I reminded her, hoping she still felt the same way.

"They said that I would just hold you back from being who you're supposed to be. And maybe they're right. Maybe I'm too clumsy and strange. Maybe my inability to be good at anything isn't going to compare to your success as an athlete. Or your dreams of being a veterinarian. Maybe we're going in two separate directions, and it's finally catching up to us," she was calmer now, her voice more steady.

"Riley, this doesn't sound like you," I sat down next to her and she turned to look at me. "Who was it?" She smiled at me sadly and took my hands in hers.

"I don't want to hold you back from following your dreams. Your parents don't want that either. So maybe it's best if we end things now before we go to college and-"

"No! My parents said that to you?" I yanked my hands away and stood up quickly, my eyes blazing and my head fuming. "Don't listen to them, don't you EVER listen to them! We're us, we do what we do remember? We decide what our future holds. We decide what we can and can't handle. And I'm not going to let you break up with me because my parents, who had no right to say anything to you, gave an unfair opinion about our relationship."

"But-"

"Riley, I love you," I walked back over to her and grabbed her hands. "Do you love me?"

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Of course I love you." I smiled slightly and wiped a tear from her cheek.

"Riley, you don't hold me back, you make me better. You bring out the very best in me and I don't think I'd be who I am without you."

"Lucas..."

"Riley, we're meant to be together. I feel it. And I know you feel it too. So if you believe anything you hear today, believe these words. Whatever we do, wherever we end up, we're going to do it together. Do you understand? It's you and me, no matter what."

She pressed her forehead against mine and breathed in deep, tears falling onto both of our laps.

"No matter what."


	5. Stay With Me

Request: Hi! Do you think you can write a rucas one shot where Riley is upset about something and Lucas is there to comfort her?

Title: Stay With Me

Summary: Lucas is receiving a special award for football at the end of the year banquet. Riley was supposed to be his date, but she is at home sick with the flu. Frustrated that she couldn't be there for him, Riley is surprised when Lucas ends up being there for her instead.

–

Riley rolled onto her side, burying her head in the sea of ruffle-covered pillows propped up on her bed. She was feeling sorry for herself, she knew, but she didn't care. She was so frustrated she could scream, if only she hadn't lost her voice. And funny enough, that fact made her want to scream even more.

"This is so unfair," Riley croaked, barely able to get the words out before coughing up a storm.

"Is talking to yourself a symptom of the flu, or was that always a personality quirk that I just missed somehow?" Lucas appeared in the bay window, suit and tie wrinkling as he crawled through the opening to step into Riley's room.

"What are you doing here?" Riley tried to sound surprised, maybe even a little annoyed, but she could barely get the words out, her throat hurt so much.

"I got your text. Saw how upset you were that you couldn't come with me to the banquet," Lucas explained, adjusting his suit as he stood up straight. "So there was absolutely nowhere else I would rather be right now," Lucas made his way over to her bed and set on the edge of it, taking her hand in his.

"All I said was 'bring me back a roll,'" Riley pointed out, adjusting her body so that she was looking up at him.

"I read between the lines," Lucas smirked, and Riley rolled her eyes.

"Lucas, you're award..." Riley began to say, but Lucas stopped her.

"Will be waiting for me at school on Monday. It's not as important to me as you are. Nothing is," Lucas leaned forward to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear.

"But you worked so hard!" Riley wiggled out of her position to prop herself up on the pillows, and Lucas gently grabbed her arms to help her. "I'm going to kill Zay for giving me this flu. Tell him to take it back, I don't want it!"

"Trust me, he'd rather be at home with the flu right now. That cheerleader he's been crushing on, Julie?"

"She came to the banquet with someone else, didn't she?" Riley scrunched up her nose, like she had smelled something foul and couldn't stand it.

"Oh yeah," Lucas nodded solemnly, and Riley threw her arms in the air.

"Ugh, that makes me so angry!" Riley was shaking, she was so upset. "The flu makes me angry, cheerleaders make me angry, scary Halloween costumes make me angry!"

"Riley, you're a cheerleader," Lucas pointed out cautiously, afraid to get on her bad side.

"Okay, I make myself angry then!" Riley took a deep breath, but her throat started to tickle, and she felt a cough coming on. "I'm just so..."

"Angry?" Lucas finished for her.

"Yes!" Suddenly, the oncoming cough caught in her throat, and the coughing fit began. Lucas lightly rubbed her back until she stopped, and Riley sat back on the pile of pillows, completely exhausted.

"Okay, that's enough ranting for one night. You need to get some rest," Lucas helped Riley settle back onto the bed, until she was in the position she had been in when he arrived at the bay window.

"Lucas?"

Lucas crouched down beside her bed, so that they were now face to face.

"Yeah, Riley?"

"I can't believe you missed your banquet for me," Riley's voice was barely audible, but Lucas could understand her.

"Like I said, there was no choice to be made. You'll always be the most important thing in my life. You'll always be my first choice," Lucas stroked Riley's cheek and she closed her eyes.

"Can you stay with me until I fall asleep?" Her voice was just a whisper now, quiet and raspy.

"Of course," Lucas smiled, and pulled the chair from the corner of the room next to her bed.

"Thank you," her eyelids were slowly closing, and Lucas smiled at how peaceful she finally looked. Her anger was subsiding, and she was finally starting to look like the Riley Matthews he loved.

"Shhh."

As Riley drifted off the sleep, Lucas held her hand, not once thinking about the football banquet, but instead thinking about how beautiful she looked, even when she was sick and angry.


	6. I Can't Give You My Heart

**Request:** Can you do a oneshot where Lucas asks Riley to go for a walk so they can talk about everything that's happened and when they do she doesn't know whether she should give her heart fully to him because he's hurt her too many times? My friend went through this last night and I immediately thought of Rucas!

 **Title:** I Can't Give You My Heart

–

Riley sat on the steps outside of her apartment building. She liked to be outside to watch the sunset in autumn. The colors of the leaves, mixed with the golden rays from the sun and the pink and purple-streaked sky, was nothing short of magical. She saw Lucas coming towards her from down the street and she pulled her jacket tighter around her body as a cold chill overtook her.

"Hey, Lucas," she greeted him, trying her best to make her voice sound as normal as possible.

"Hey, what are you doing out here? It's getting kind of chilly," Lucas pushed his hands into his pockets and leaned against the railing.

"I like it out here. It's a good place to think," Riley pulled her sleeves down over her hands and looked up at Lucas.

"Isn't that what the bay window is for?" Lucas smirked.

"Sometimes it's good to have a change of scenery," Riley explained, and Lucas nodded as if he understood what she meant. "Speaking of. Want to go for a walk?"

"Sure, lead the way," Lucas gestured for Riley to take the lead.

Riley stood up and waited for Lucas to fall in line beside her as they made their way down the street. She really didn't want to have this conversation. But it had to happen if they were ever going to move forward.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Lucas glanced over at Riley, who had her arms crossed in front of her chest and her head down. She stopped suddenly when he said this, and turned to look at him.

"I want to talk about us, Lucas," Riley's voice was calm and steady, the opposite of what she was feeling on the inside.

"Okay, what about us?" Lucas asked, feeling a little confused about what was happening.

"Lucas, you're really important to me. And I like you a lot," Riley tucked her hair behind her ear and swallowed hard.

"I like you too, Riley," Lucas smiled warmly at her and she closed her eyes for a moment before continuing.

"Then listen to me when I say this. There have been so many times where I've needed you to support me, and you haven't been there for me. And while I appreciate you protecting me, that's not what I'm always going to need from you," Riley took a deep breath, and waited for Lucas to respond.

"Riley... I didn't mean to make you feel that way," Lucas scrunched his eyebrows together, and moved to put his hand on Riley's arm.

"No, I know you didn't," Riley took his hand in hers and gave it a squeeze before letting it drop to his side. "But I also know that you really hurt me when you didn't support my trying out for cheerleading last year. Or when you didn't have faith in me on our first day of school, with the seniors. I needed you, and you weren't there for me."

"Riley..."

"And that brings me to this," Riley took in a breath and let it out slowly. "I feel like I'm the only one fighting for us. I feel like you're content to sit idly by and let what we have slip away." Tears welled up in Riley's eyes, and she wiped one rolling down her cheek with her thumb.

"That's not true at all, Riley!"

"Yes it is. I know that you care about me. And I know that you don't want to hurt me. But you have, Lucas. And I don't know if I can give my heart to you fully, knowing that you might hurt me again," Riley took a step away from him, the tears starting to come a little faster now. "I don't know if I can trust you with my heart."

"Riley, I – " Lucas reached for her hand again, but this time she backed away before he could reach her.

"Goodbye, Lucas," Riley turned on her heel to head in the opposite direction, and Lucas was left to watch her walk away.

Maybe she was being dramatic. Maybe she was overreacting. But Riley knew that she had locked all of these feelings safely inside a box for far too long. She knew that all of these things needed to be said. And she knew that they felt really good to say.


	7. Just Breathe

Prompt: "I can't breathe!" "Look at me - just breathe, okay?"

Point of View: Riley's

–

I imagined that I was on a carousel, spinning round and round as my world flitted by me in swirls and circles. The people and buildings were blurred, making it nearly impossible to distinguish between any of them. I smiled. And laughed. And glanced over at my father standing next to me. He had one hand on my back to steady me, and the other on one of the golden poles that held one of the horses. His smile made me feel safe. And happy. And loved. Then suddenly he stopped smiling. He stopped laughing. And his hand dropped from my back. I called out to him as he stepped backwards, but he kept moving away from me. I was no longer happy. Or safe. I was scared. And all I felt was panic.

"It's okay, Riley," he whispered, as he moved further and further away from me.

He stepped off of the ride, even though it was still moving, and I reached out to him.

"Come back, I still need you!" I yelled out to him, but he was gone, just another blur amongst the crowd of people and buildings.

"It's okay, Riley," I could still hear his voice, but I could no longer see him. My chest got tight, my face was hot, and I was still spinning, but I was no longer on the carousel. My eyes flew open to see Lucas Friar's eyes staring into mine, full of concern.

"Riley, it's okay," Lucas whispered, gently touching my cheek. "Riley, you're burning up."

I suddenly felt like I was trapped in a box, it's four walls closing in on me, leaving me with no air. I sat up with a start and frantically grasped at my chest.

"I can't breathe!" I gasped, my chest feeling so tight that I thought it might burst.

"Riley, just breathe, it's going to be okay!" Lucas grabbed my arms and gently pulled me to my feet, but I collapsed to the floor almost immediately. I tried to take deep breaths, but I couldn't get enough air and my lungs screamed at me in protest.

Lucas crouched down next to me, and placed both of his hands on either side of my face. He stroked my cheek with one of his thumbs, and my eyes locked on his.

"Shh," he was so close to me, I could see the freckles on his nose so clearly. "Look at me - just breathe, okay?"

He took a deep breath. My eyes were still interlocked with his as I tried to take a breath as well, but I still couldn't get any air.

"Did I ever tell you about the time I helped deliver a baby horse?" He smiled. I smiled too. I had heard this story a million times, but it still calmed me. It made me feel safe. And happy. Just like my father made me feel.

He took another deep breath and I tried again. This time, I was able to get the air I needed to feel my chest loosen up just a little.

"There you go," he breathed. "Feel better?"

I nodded, and moved to lean against the kitchen table.

"I need him to be okay," I muttered, tears welling up in my eyes.

"He will be. He's one of the strongest people I know," Lucas reassured me.

I smiled sadly, remembering all the times that my father had been there for me. How many times he had helped me through problems with friends or school or just life in general. He was my rock. And now I needed to be his.

"Yeah, he really is," I agreed, letting the tears fall onto the floor in front of me.

Lucas moved closer to me. I turned to face him, and he wiped a tear from my cheek. He put a hand on my back. I put an arm around his shoulder. Then he was folding me into his arms completely, and I let myself cry until I got the phone call that allowed me to breathe as much as I needed to be okay again.


	8. We're Not Friends

**Request:** I just found this Ed Sheeran song called "friends" and I'm asking you to write a rucas ff with lucas singing this song to riley:D The lyrics go like this "Friends just sleep in another bed, And friends don't treat me like you do. Well I know that there's a limit to everything, But my friends won't love me like you." Thanks!

 **Title:** We're Not Friends

Summary: It is junior year of high school, and Riley and Lucas have tried to convince themselves that they are better off as just friends after dating for awhile and then breaking up. But recently Lucas has realized otherwise and has come up with a creative way to convince Riley of the same thing.

–

Lucas tapped his fingers along the counter at Topanga's Bakery. His nerves were making it almost impossible to sit still, and it was all he could do to keep from bolting out of the door as fast as he could. He watched as the other karaoke participants made their way up to the stage to sing their selected songs. Some sang off key, some were actually decent, but Lucas mostly heard silence as the magnitude of what he was about to do sunk in.

"Hey, Lucas! You're up next," Topanga announced as she emerged from behind the counter holding a clipboard.

"You know, I'm really having second thoughts about this Mrs. Matthews, maybe I should just go home..." Lucas sputtered out quickly. Trying his best to make a graceful exit, he hopped off the stool and turned to walk towards the front door, but he was stopped suddenly by Maya's hand on his back.

"And where do you think you're going Huckleberry?" Maya circled behind Lucas to meet him in front of the counter. "We had a plan. You can't just abandon the plan."

"Maybe there's another way," Lucas suggested, wringing his hands together as a bead of sweat formed at the top of his forehead.

"No, Lucas. You said you wanted there to be a grand gesture. Here's your grand gesture," Farkle chimed in from somewhere behind them, as he and Zay came to sit on either side of Lucas.

"Besides, everything else is going according to plan. Riley is in position – Smackle has her seated exactly where we talked about. Your song is queued to be next. All that's left to do is for you to get up there and sing, my friend," Zay lightly slapped Lucas on the back, and Lucas drew in a nervous breath at the word "sing."

The room filled with polite applause as the participant on the stage finished his song.

"Okay, that was an excellent rendition of 'Love is a Battlefield,' by the one and only Dave! Good job, Dave! It was really... something," Katy Hart adjusted the microphone, and glanced down at her clipboard. "Okay, next we have a special treat for a lucky someone in the audience. Please welcome to the stage Mr. Lucas Friar!"

Lucas took a few steps closer to the stage, but then stopped to look back at his friends.

"Lucas, you've got this. Go up there and tell her how you feel, man," Zay gave Lucas a reassuring slap on the back, and he nodded.

Lucas took a deep breath and stepped onto the stage, the lights nearly blinding him as he leaned forward to talk into the microphone.

"Uh, hi... I'm Lucas Friar and I'm not really much of a singer. But there's something that I've realized recently that I've wanted to share with someone really important to me. I could just never really find the right words to do that. So I decided to borrow someone else's instead."

Lucas cleared his throat and prepared for the words to appear on the screen in front of him.

"Riley Matthews, this one's for you."

As Lucas sang the song, his voice cracking in places and his pitch all over the place, he didn't take his eyes off of Riley. The lyrics spoke to how he felt about her and what he wanted going forward in their relationship. The lyrics were everything he wished he could have told her months ago. And he couldn't believe he was being brave enough to say them to her now.

 ** _Friends just sleep in another bed_**

 ** _And friends don't treat me like you do._**

Lucas loved being friends with Riley. He loved talking to her. He loved being there to help her when she needed it. But there had always been something else between them. That spark that lingers in the air when they're standing next to each other. That unspoken feeling of jittery nervousness they felt in the pit of their stomachs when they stayed up late all night talking.

 ** _Well I know that there's a limit to everything,_**

 ** _But my friends won't love me like you._**

 ** _No my friends will never love me like you do._**

And Lucas finally felt like he was in a place to tell her the truth. That he wanted to be more than friends with her. That he loved her. He just hoped that this would convince her that they were so much more than friends. And that she felt the same way.

 ** _Oh, my friends will never love me like you._**

The crowd erupted in applause as he finished singing the last note, leaving Lucas feeling relieved, if not a little embarrassed. Katy hopped back on stage, patting Lucas on the back and taking the microphone from him.

"Well, now wasn't that just the sweetest thing you ever did see?" Katy praised him. "There are some men in my life who could learn a thing or two about romance from you, Mr. Friar."

Lucas awkwardly thanked her and made his way off the stage. As he reached the bottom of the steps, Riley was there to meet him.

"Hi," she greeted him, letting out a breathy laugh as she took in all the chaos around them.

"Hey," Lucas returned the laugh and rubbed the back of his head nervously. "So. Sorry about my terrible singing skills."

"They weren't terrible! I loved it," Riley stepped forward to place a hand on Lucas' arm.

"Yeah?" Lucas smiled at her in surprise.

"So you went for the grand gesture, huh?"

"Too much?" Lucas wondered, rocking back and forth on his heels.

"No," Riley assured him. "It was perfect."

Riley crossed her arms over her chest and bit her bottom lip nervously.

"Lucas... What the lyrics were saying, did you really mean - "

"I meant every word," Lucas assured her, looking her directly in the eyes.

"So, now what?" Riley took another step closer to him, so that they now had barely any space between them.

"Well, I have to ask you. Did the lyrics have the same meaning for you as they did for me?" Lucas held his breath, terrified of her answer.

Riley smiled and leaned in even closer to Lucas, so that they were now practically touching noses. Both of their hearts were beating a million miles a minute as Lucas placed a hand on Riley's cheek.

"What do you think?" Riley whispered.

With that, Riley met Lucas' lips with hers and the crowd cheered even louder than they had for any of the karaoke performances. But they didn't hear it. The world had faded into silence and it was just the two of them.


	9. On Our Way

**Request:** Hi so you probably seen the spoilers for ski lodge which I'm so excited to see and I was wondering if you can do a rucas story where Riley and Lucas talk all night and the bus ride home.

 **Title:** On Our Way

–

Riley sat on the couch with her legs crossed, her head spinning with a dizzy happiness brought on by the events of the last hour. Lucas had told her how he felt about her - the way she had imagined that he would for so long. She was afraid that is she blinked, this would all go away and she would wake up from her dream. But this was actually happening. And she was completely in shock.

"This doesn't feel real," Riley admitted, turning her head to look at Lucas.

"What's that?" Lucas was staring up at the ceiling, but turned his head to meet her gaze.

"This moment, this entire day. It's like the world has stopped moving and-"

"It's just the two of us?" Lucas finished for her, his eyes burning just as bright as the fire in front of them.

"Yeah. It's kind of like we're living in this ghost world and we're the only two people left," Riley's voice was soft as she spoke and Lucas' lips curled up into a small smile at the sound of it.

"Maybe it is. Maybe we are."

Lucas put his hand on top of Riley's, and she turned her hand over to slide her fingers between his.

"Are you sure about this, Lucas? Are you sure you made the right decision?"

"Or course I'm sure," Lucas adjusted his body so that his knees were touching the top of hers. "The truth is that... I think I always knew in the back of my mind. I think I knew that it had always been you."

"How could you possibly know that?" Riley scrunched her eyebrows together, and looked at Lucas skeptically.

"Because... you go on long-winded rants about basketball. Despite what other people tell you, you never stop believing that people are inherently good at heart. You've always stuck by your dream of being a bunny farmer and have never stopped having faith that Pluto will be a planet again... I think that deep down I knew that all of these things and so much more, meant that you were who I wanted to be with."

Riley had tears in her eyes. She couldn't believe that this was happening. She couldn't believe that Lucas was actually saying this to her.

"Did you practice that speech?" Riley wiped the tear falling down her cheek, and let out a short and breathy laugh.

"I might have," Lucas confessed, his smile widening at the sound of Riley's laughter.

Lucas turned to look out the window and saw that the sky was starting to lighten, ever so slightly.

"The sun is starting to come up," Lucas announced, removing his hand from Riley's and moving to stand on his feet.

"It's sad that it's coming to an end," Riley said in almost a whisper, referring to their class trip. She unfolded her legs from the couch and stood to face Lucas.

"Yeah. But I have a feeling that a few things are just beginning too," Lucas took a step closer and took her hand in his. Riley smiled and gave his hand a light squeeze.

"Come on. We should go pack. The bus leaves in an hour," Riley headed toward the staircase, and Lucas followed behind her.

"Save me a seat?" Lucas asked, raising his eyebrows expectantly.

"Always."

–

Riley rested her head on the cool window, watching the trees and snow-covered mountains pass them by as they made their way home.

"What are you thinking about?" Lucas lightly nudged her with his elbow and Riley lifted her head in response.

"Nothing," Riley shook her head, but Lucas raised his eyebrows and gave her a look that indicated that he didn't buy that response.

"Come on Riley, you're worried about something, I can tell."

Riley turned in her seat so that her whole body was facing Lucas. She pulled one leg onto the seat, and folded it underneath herself.

"It's just... I'm scared," Riley admitted.

"Scared? Of what?" Lucas asked, a little nervous to hear her answer.

"What if everything changes? What if we get back to school, and everything is different?"

Riley had never liked change, but after she had entered high school, she was starting to realize that sometimes change was inevitable. And that scared her most of all.

"Well, things are going to be different Riley," Lucas explained. "But sometimes that's a good thing. Don't you think?"

"I hope so," Riley whispered, not sounding very sure of herself.

"Hey, if you're ever feeling unsure or confused, just remember what I said to you back at the ski lodge. Remember that I meant every word of it. And remember that what we have is real."

Riley let herself smile at that, and linked her arm with his. Slowly, she sunk down in her seat and rested her head on Lucas' shoulder.

"Promise me that we'll always be able to talk, just like we did last night," Riley breathed, turning her head slightly to meet his eyes. "Promise me that whatever happens, we'll be able to talk about stars and infinite universes and things so much bigger than us. Whatever changes occur when we get back, just promise me that us being able to talk will always stay the same."

"I promise, Riley," Lucas assured her. "Like I said before, talking to you is one of my favorite things to do in the world. That's something that will never change, no matter what."

"Good," Riley sighed, absentmindedly playing with the fraying piece of fabric on the bottom of Lucas' jacket.

"To change?" Lucas held out his hand for Riley to take it.

"To change," Riley took his hand in hers and set their hands down in the empty space between them.

Riley wasn't sure what was going to happen once they got back to school and the life they had lived before the class trip. She wasn't sure what this meant for their friendship. But she did know that things were going to change. And she was going to be okay with that.


	10. Let It Slide

**Request:** Can you write about Riley and Lucas going to a water park but Lucas becomes jealous, please?

 **Title:** Let It Slide

–

"Nope, no way," Lucas crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head defiantly.

"Come on, Lucas, it's just a waterslide!"

"Riley, do you see how high up that is?" Lucas pointed up at the 90-foot water silde, and Riley rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but you won't even notice once we're going down it. Come on, the water tube is a two-seater. I can't go by myself," Riley tried to convince him, stepping closer to put a hand on his arm.

"I don't know, Riley," Lucas muttered, still extremely skeptical.

"Lucas, you've ridden on a bull before, this should be a piece of cake!"

"I know, but – " Lucas was stopped short by a voice coming from behind them.

"I'll go with you."

Riley and Lucas both spun around to see Charlie Gardner walking towards them. He had gotten taller, and much more muscular, and Lucas couldn't help noticing the way Riley noticed how he looked with his shirt off.

"Hey Charlie, what are you doing here?" Riley nervously played with a strand of her hair and smiled up at him. Lucas felt his body tense up at the way Charlie was looking at her. And quite frankly, the way that she was looking at Charlie.

"It's summer. Teenagers go to waterparks in the summer. Plus I heard you were going to be here," Charlie smirked, lightly nudging RIley in the side with his elbow.

"Did you also hear that I was going to be here Charlie? Cause I am. I'm here. With Riley," Lucas snapped, feeling his face heat up and his heart start to race.

"Yeah, but I also heard that you're afraid of heights. Gonna be honest, did not peg that as you're biggest fear, Friar," Charlie shook his head in mock disappointment and Lucas clenched his fists.

"Yeah, well, there was an incident when I was a kid where – " Lucas tried to explain, but Charlie cut him off.

"So, Riley, you want to try it? Seems like we both have a sense of adventure in our bones," Charlie glanced up at the waterslide, and then back to Riley.

"Uh, yeah. Will you be okay waiting here, Lucas?" Riley asked, feeling a little guilty for leaving him by himself.

Lucas was about to lose it. He was this close to pushing Charlie into the kiddie pool. But he remembered his trick to keep his anger in check. He focused on Riley, and only Riley.

"Um... Sure..." Lucas muttered through clenched teeth.

"Great, you're the best!" Riley exclaimed, quickly giving his arm a light squeeze before making her way to the area where the tubes were located.

"See you on the other side, Friar," Charlie gave him a sly smile and a confident wink, as he fell in line behind Riley.

Lucas was fuming. He couldn't let that punk Charlie go down that waterslide with Riley. He knew it was stupid, and he was probably overreacting, but he didn't want to let her down. He was supposed to be her hero. And he was going to prove it to her.

Lucas took a deep breath and turned on his heel to head up the stairs to the top of the waterslide. He grabbed a tube on his way up, and trudged forward. He kept his eyes straight ahead the entire time, not once looking down. That is, until he reached the very top.

"Oh, no. It's high. We're really high, oh god!" Lucas panicked, taking in the way the tops of the tree looked and how the people below looked like tiny little ants.

"Lucas, what are you doing up here? You're terrified of heights!" Riley made her way over to him, and he immediately grabbed her arms for support.

"I wouldn't necessarily use the word terrified," Lucas swallowed, closing his eyes tight and refusing to look over the railing again.

"Riley, it's our turn next," Charlie called from the front of the line. He had their tube in his hands, and looked ready to go. When he met Lucas' eyes, Lucas could see the annoyance wash over him.

"Hang on, Charlie," Riley called back to him. She turned back to Lucas and placed her hands on either of his shoulders. "Lucas, why are you doing this? You don't need to prove anything to me."

"I know, but I wanted to wipe that smug look off of Charlie's face," Lucas spat, glancing over at Charlie with a look of disdain.

Riley took a second to take in Lucas' expression before smiling widely and slapping him playfully on the arm.

"You're jealous," she taunted him.

"What? Jealous? Of Gardner?" Lucas scoffed, rolling his eyes, looking everywhere but at her.

"Wouldn't be the first time," Riley pointed out, leaning back and looking up at him smugly.

"Okay, now you're just talking nonsense," Lucas brushed her off, still feeling uneasy about being so high off of the ground.

"Lucas, you don't have anything to be jealous of, alright? Charlie and I are friends and he was just being nice," Riley explained, her voice softening and becoming a lot less teasing.

"I know, Riley. But I realized that I wanted to be the one who was there for you when you needed something like this. I always want to be the one who is there for you," Lucas admitted, as he finally met her eyes.

"Lucas, you can't always be the one who is there for me for every little thing. I know that kills you, but it's just not realistic," Riley explained, rubbing his arm gently. "But you can be there for me for all the important stuff. In fact, I insist on it."

Riley gave him a small smile, and Lucas rested a hand on her cheek.

"But this – it isn't important. And you don't need to do this," Riley held out her arms to gesture to everything around them – the waterslide, the high altitude, Charlie Gardner.

"Riley, are you coming?" Charlie snapped, as he lost all patience for Riley and Lucas' relationship drama.

"Go ahead and go back down, Lucas," Riley instructed him, rubbing his arm supportively. "It's okay."

Lucas had two choices; He could go back down the stairs the way he came up, looking like a complete chicken. Or he could suck it up, go down the waterslide, and make his girlfriend happy.

"No. No, I'm already up here. So I'm doing this," Lucas announced, sounding much more confident than he felt on the inside.

"Lucas, are you sure?" Riley wanted to know, feeling a little uneasy about this.

"Yes. Yes, I'm sure," Lucas nodded and moved to the opening of one of the waterslides. He put his tube in front of him, and looked straight ahead.

"Charlie, you go ahead without me. I'm going down with Lucas," Riley announced, and turned to follow Lucas to their waterslide.

"Facing your fear, Friar? Impressive," Charlie complimented him. He positioned himself in the water tube and grabbed onto the pole above him, preparing to push off. "See you down there."

"See, he's a nice guy," Riley poked Lucas in the side as she grabbed onto the tube in front of them.

"I know he is. But why does he have to flirt with you every time he opens his mouth," Lucas complained, his voice a little lighter and less accusatory.

"I think that's just the way he talks to everyone," Riley laughed, and Lucas' lips curled up into a smile.

Riley hopped into the tube first, and Lucas stepped into the spot behind her. Lucas grabbed onto the handles on the sides of the tube and took a deep breath.

"You ready to do this?" Riley asked, quickly glancing back at Lucas.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Lucas admitted. Riley reached back to take his hand in hers, and he squeezed it tightly.

"One," Riley yelled.

"Two," Lucas continued, shutting his eyes as they prepared to push off.

"Three!"


	11. Unchangeable Minds

**Request:** Hi! I have a request for one of your awesome Rucas one-shots. After their talk at the ski lodge, Riley and Lucas have decided to move forward with their relationship. But Lucas still hasn't asked her out on a date because he is nervous about messing things up again. And Riley begins to worry he has changed his mind.

 **Title:** Unchangeable Minds

–

"Would you stop obsessing over this?" Maya sat in the bay window as she watched Riley pace back and forth in front of her.

"Maya, it's been five whole days. Isn't that the amount of time where I'm supposed to take a hint?" Riley chomped on her fingernails, a nervous habit she had picked up right around the time she entered high school.

"And what hint would that be?" Maya raised her eyebrows at Riley, waiting for her to answer.

"That he's changed his mind!" Riley exclaimed, much louder than she had anticipated. Maya gestured for Riley to have a seat in the bay window, and she obeyed without saying another word.

"There's no way he'd change his mind about this. He might be Ranger Rick, but he's not dumb," Maya reassured her, as she gave her hand a supportive squeeze.

Just then, Maya and Riley heard a light tap on the glass next to them. They turned their heads to see Farkle crawling through the window, and they automatically scooted over to make room for him.

"Hey, what are we talking about?" He stepped over the windowsill and plopped next to Maya on the bench of the bay window.

"Riley's worried that Lucas changed his mind about how he feels about her," Maya explained.

"That's ridiculous, there's no way he'd change his mind about you," Farkle reassured Riley, and Maya nodded in agreement.

"Exactly. See?" Maya pointed to Farkle in approval, but Riley just shook her head, still not convinced.

"Then why hasn't he done anything about it since we left the ski lodge?" Riley raised her eyebrows at them, and Farkle and Maya exchanged a look.

"Maybe he hasn't found the right time," Maya offered, already becoming exhausted with this conversation.

"Or maybe he's realized that he made the wrong choice," Riley argued.

"Let's not go there," Maya scrunched her nose together in mock annoyance, and Riley nodded, as if she understood.

"You're right, sorry," Riley apologized.

"Just give him a few more days. You know that he's notorious for assuming things about your relationship. For example, things that seem like a no-brainer to you, like say, asking you out on a date, probably haven't even crossed his mind yet," Maya pointed out.

"Yeah, like Maya said. He probably just assumes you guys are officially dating. Remember the semi-formal fiasco," Farkle nudged Riley's arm, and she scoffed as the memory came back to her.

"How could I forget?" Riley smiled.

"Forget what?"

Riley leaned forward to see Lucas making his way through the window. Riley let her mouth hang open in shock as he took a seat next to Farkle.

"Unbelievable," she muttered.

Maya looked from Lucas, to Riley, and then grabbed Farkle's arm to pull him to his feet.

"Uh, Farkle and I will be outside your door pretending like we're not eavesdropping," Maya shuffled quickly across the room, with Farkle dragging close behind her.

"Yeah, talk loud enough so that we can hear!" With that, Maya smacked Farkle upside the head, and he winced in pain. "Ow!"

"What's going on, Riley?" Lucas turned to face her in the bay window, and she met his eyes with a leveled expression.

"You tell me, Lucas," Riley tried her best to stay cool, and to talk this out calmly and rationally like two adults.

"Uh, well Pappy Joe called last night. He talked a lot about the irregular eating patterns of some of his horses and - "

That was it. She couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Why haven't you asked me out on a date in the middle of class in a way that makes my father angry by slamming doors in your face and stealing your shoes and yelling mean things at you like the first time?" Riley blurted out without taking a single breath.

"Riley..."

"It's because you've change your mind isn't it? Just go ahead and tell me now. Rip the band-aid off, I can take it," Riley closed her eyes, and nodded as she tried to put on a brave face.

"Riley!" Lucas snapped, not unkindly.

"What!?"

"I haven't changed my mind, I promise," Lucas assured her. "There's no way I could ever change my mind about you - about us."

"Then why haven't you done anything. Or said anything?"

"I wanted to give you some time to think. To make sure that you wouldn't change your mind about me," Lucas took her hand in his and the corner of Riley's mouth curled into a slight smile.

"Why would I do that, Lucas?"

"I don't know. Maybe you realized I wasn't worth all the trouble I put you through after all," Lucas shrugged his shoulders and his eyes moved to the floor.

"Hey, you told me that you were worth it once, remember? Well, I still believe you," Riley tugged on Lucas' arm and he met her eyes with a smile.

"Maybe I didn't want to mess things up again," Lucas admitted.

"You won't, Lucas - we won't. We're going to do things right this time. No pressure, no rush, just two people who like each other, taking things slow," Riley explained.

"Okay, you're right," Lucas nodded. "So if you haven't changed your mind, and everything we talked about at the ski lodge is still true for you," he began, but Riley answered him before he could finish.

"It is, I promise," she nodded excitedly and Lucas couldn't help but laughing.

"Okay, then this is me officially asking you, Riley Matthews, on a date," Lucas exhaled, as he waited for her to answer. When she didn't, Lucas felt his pulse start to race as the nerves took hold.

"Well?" He raised his eyebrows at her expectantly.

"Oh, I was just waiting for my dad to burst in here, yelling at you to get out of his daughter's room," Riley smirked, and Lucas nudged her shoulder playfully. "Okay, okay. Yes, Lucas, I will go on a date with you."

Riley beamed at him, but he just raised one eyebrow and looked at her with a straight face.

"What, I don't get a famous Riley 'yay,' like last time?" Lucas joked.

"I'm waiting to see where you take me first," Riley admitted, glancing at him as they made their way to Riley's bedroom door.

"Oh, I see how it is," Lucas smirked.

When Riley opened the door, their friends spilled into the room, making it obvious that they had, in fact, been listening to their whole conversation. Riley and Lucas shared an amused look, but passed them to head to the kitchen to break the news to her father. Riley and Lucas were moving forward with their relationship, at their own pace, of their own choosing and it was time that everyone knew.


	12. Secrets Revealed

**Request:** Hi can you do the aftermath after rucas becomes official in ski lodge and their friends and Riley's parents reaction when rucas are now dating

 **Title:** Secrets Revealed

–

"We have to tell them," Lucas whispered. He and Riley were sitting in the plush chairs in Topanga's Bakery, watching their friends and family laugh at something Zay was saying at the counter. Riley sighed and turned her attention back to Lucas.

"Yeah, I know we do. But I'm just wondering why we can't wait a few more days or weeks or possibly decades," Riley nervously played with the fraying thread on the bottom of her jacket, and Lucas turned to look at her.

"Riley, why are you so nervous about this?"

"Well, I'm nervous that my dad is going to kill you for one. I mean he's already taken every shoe you own, so it seems like death is the only option left," Riley pointed out.

"Riley, I can handle your father, okay?" Lucas assured her, giving her a confident nod. Riley's eyes went wide as a figure appeared from behind him.

"Oh can you?" Cory asked, and Lucas' blood went cold. "Tell me, Mr. Friar, how does one 'handle' his history teacher?" Cory took a seat next to Riley, leaning over her to raise his eyebrows at Lucas.

"Yikes," Riley mumbled under her breath, afraid to look up at either of them.

"Uh, I didn't mean it like that, sir," Lucas sputtered out quickly. "I just meant, uh, um – Riley you wanna take this one?"

"Thanks a lot," Riley muttered. She glared at Lucas before taking a deep breath. "Well, the thing is, Daddy..."

"Uh oh," Cory panicked, his fists clenching together and his eyes searching the room for Topanga.

"She called you 'daddy,' huh? Sorry Cory, this sounds serious," Topanga told him, circling the chairs to sit on the other side of Lucas.

"That's the kiss of death, sir," Farkle pointed out, coming around chairs to stand in front of them.

"Your life is going to be forever changed by whatever comes out of her mouth," Zay explained, taking his place next to Farkle.

"Yeah, big brother. You're in trouble," Josh appeared in the doorway, and Riley's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

"Okay, is everyone we know here or something?" Riley shook her head at the crowd of friends and family that had gathered around her.

"Riles, whatever it is, we're here for you," Maya promised. "Just tell us."

Riley opened her mouth to explain, but Lucas placed a hand on Riley's shoulder to stop her. He gave her a small smile, and turned to their friends.

"On the class trip, Riley and I had a really long talk," Lucas began, his voice surprisingly steady. "I told her that I liked her as more than a friend and that I wanted to be with her. And so we decided to..."

"We decided to start dating - for real this time," Riley blurted out.

Everyone turned to look at Cory, waiting in anticipation for his reaction.

"I mean, if that's okay with you, sir," Lucas added quickly.

It was quiet all around. Eyes flitted from face to face, waiting for someone to speak. Waiting for someone to react. As Cory stood and turned to face Lucas, everyone flinched, afraid of what he was going to do to him.

"Dad you can't hurt him, I think that's against the law or something!" Riley put her body in between the two of them, creating a protective shield around Lucas.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Matthews!" Lucas threw his hands up, in an effort to protect his face. "Just, not the face, if you don't mind," Lucas squeezed his eyes together, preparing for the worst. Suddenly, Cory's expression softened as he placed one, firm hand on Lucas' shoulder.

"I'm really happy for you guys," Cory smiled. Everyone in the room gasped as they exchanged confused looks with one another.

"What?" Riley and Lucas gaped at him, both of theirs mouths hanging open in shock.

"You finally worked things out, you came to terms with your feelings. I'm proud of you – both of you," Cory gave them a reassuring smile and patted Riley's hand to show his support.

"I have to admit, that is not what I was expecting," Zay admitted, and Farkle nodded in agreement.

"What? Did you really think I was going to hurt him?" Cory turned to look at all of the faces staring at him.

"Yes!" Everyone snapped in unison.

Riley turned to Maya, waiting with bated breath to hear what she had to say about the news.

"It's about time," Maya smirked, placing her hand on Riley's and giving it a supportive squeeze.

"You're sure this is okay?" Riley asked, her nerves evident in the way she was biting her bottom lip.

"More than okay," Maya assured her. Riley let out a sigh of relief and threw her arms around Maya, pulling her into a hug.

"Okay, to celebrate - smoothies are on me!" Topanga announced. She stopped suddenly and pointed to Maya. "But, not literally on me, just to be clear. Yeah, you betcha' I heard about that."

"Ah, that was some of my best work," Maya beamed, as she remembered the time she poured a smoothie over Lucas' head a few months ago.

Lucas turned to Riley as the rest of the group headed back to the counter to get their smoothies.

"See? Nothing to worry about," Lucas smirked. Riley rolled her eyes and turned her body to face Lucas.

"Now, the question is; where are we going on our second first date?"

Riley was happy to finally be with Lucas, but she was even happier that she had the support of her friends and family. She only hoped that it stayed that way, no matter what happened.


	13. Jealousy

**Request:** Can I request a rucas story of Riley still struggling with her Spanish  & a boy from her class offers to tutor her & Lucas gets really jealous that she is spending time with this boy & can tell the boy is flirting with Riley.

 **Title:** Jealousy

Lucas narrowed his eyes at the boy sitting across from Riley in the cafeteria. He leaned in close to her ear, whispering something that made her smile. Lucas fought the urge to climb over the tables separating him from where they were seated and push him firmly away from her. Riley threw her head back as the boy said something that made her laugh, and Lucas gritted his teeth.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Lucas muttered to himself.

Riley pointed to something in the book spread out on the table in front of them. Slowly, the boy placed a hand on top of hers and gently guided her hand across the page in the direction of the correct answer.

"That's it," Lucas slammed his hand on the table and abruptly stood. "I'm going over there."

"Dude, you can't go over there," Zay warned. He pointed the granola bar he was nibbling on in Lucas' direction. "You'll look pathetic."

"He's clearly not taking his job seriously, look at how he's flirting with her!" Lucas gestured to the scene in front of them. The boy's hand was still resting atop Riley's, and Lucas shook his head in disbelief.

"How is he flirting with her, exactly?" Farkle chimed in. "It looks like they're just studying to me."

"Are you kidding? Look at his hand! He's all but caressing her arm. That's one step up from 'boop,' okay? That's not alright with me!" Lucas' face was red, and Zay swore that he could see the vein popping out of his neck.

"Lucas, if you go over there, you have to stay cool," Zay placed a calming hand on Lucas' shoulder and he took a deep breath.

"Okay," Lucas breathed, feeling much calmer. "I'm cool."

Farkle and Zay glanced at each other, still not too convinced. Lucas ignored them and made his way over to Riley and her Spanish tutor. His strides were long and quick, and it took everything he had not to bolt over to the table as fast as he could.

"Lucas, hi!" Riley greeted him. Her voice was even more chipper than usual, though Lucas didn't see how that was possible. "Do you know Ryan?"

Lucas took in Ryan's boyish grin, perfectly quaffed hair, and much-too-nice button-down shirt. He looked exactly the way a smart, attractive fifteen-year-old should look. And Lucas hated him.

"Uh, no, don't think so," Lucas faked a friendly smile and gave him a quick wave.

"Ryan's been helping me study for my next Spanish exam," Riley explained, glancing up at Ryan and smiling.

"I thought Maya was helping you?" Lucas furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"She's been busy working on this big art project. She wanted to help, but I told her that her art was more important," Riley tucked her hair behind her ear and Lucas sat down in the seat across from her.

"Roberta here is getting much better," Ryan complimented her. Riley beamed at him and Lucas wanted to throw the Spanish book across the room. "Her pronunciation es muy buena!"

"That means very good," Riley informed Lucas, smiling from ear to ear.

"Yeah, I got that," Lucas tried his best to look happy for her, but he was struggling not to grind his teeth together and clench his fists. "So - just curious. It's lunchtime. Shouldn't you guys be, I don't know, eating lunch? Like with your friends, at separate tables, far, far away from each other?"

"We already ate," Ryan assured him. "Our last class got out early, so we had time to eat our sandwiches before the crowd settled in."

"Awesome," Lucas muttered through gritted teeth. He turned to Ryan, leaning across the table to meet his eyes with a leveled expression. "So, how long is this going to be happening? This - you and her. Tutoring."

"As long as she needs me," Ryan turned his head to look at Riley and smiled.

Lucas glanced down at the table and noticed that Riley's last Spanish exam was tucked neatly behind the front cover of her Spanish book. He slid it out slowly, and turned it around so that it was facing upright.

"Riley, you got an A+ on your last test?" Lucas asked.

"You bet I did," Riley beamed. "See, told you Ryan's been helping me!"

Lucas looked from Riley, to Ryan, and then back to the Spanish test. As much as he couldn't stand the flirtatious banter between the two of them, Ryan was really making a difference in helping Riley understand Spanish. And as much as he hated to admit this, Riley and Lucas weren't officially together yet. He had no right to be jealous. Or to hate the boy who was helping her be the best she could be.

"That's amazing, Riley," Lucas grinned, and this time the smile was genuine. Lucas turned to Ryan. "Keep up the good work, Ryan. Oh and don't let her get too distracted by - well everything really, but especially bunnies or anything cute or shiny or rainbow-colored."

"Bunnies!" Riley gasped.

"See what I mean?" Lucas raised his eyebrows at Riley and Ryan laughed. "But seriously, Riley's one of the smartest people I know, so treat her that way, okay?"

"I definitely will," Ryan told him. "Thanks, Lucas."

Lucas rose from the table and turned his back to them. He was still jealous. That feeling didn't go away as easily as he would have liked it to; but he could push those feelings aside for Riley because he wanted her to do well. And even though Riley's success was due in large part to Ryan's tutoring, Lucas could learn to make peace with that because he believed in her. And he felt stronger about that belief that anything the green-eyed monster could make him feel.


	14. To the Girl Who Believed

**Title:** To the Girl Who Believed

 **Summary:** Lucas writes a letter to Riley expressing how he felt about their fight after their first day of high school didn't go as planned. But when someone else finds the letter, could relationships be changed forever because of it?

–

Lucas peeked his head around the set of lockers he was hiding behind, making sure that no one could see him - especially Riley and Maya. He wanted to check up on them, but he wasn't ready to venture into the section of the school that those irritating seniors called "the hole" just yet. Going down there meant giving up, and that meant that his entire argument with Riley would have been for nothing.

He glanced down at the envelope he was clutching tightly in his hands. It felt like it weighed the equivalent of an elephant or semi-truck or ten thousands skyscrapers. But maybe that was simply because of the words the letter inside the envelope contained. He quickly read over the contents of letter one last time, making sure that he had included everything he wanted to say. There were words in that letter that couldn't be taken back. Big, bold, words that could be the start – or end – of something that meant so much to him.

Dear Riley,

I'm not really sure why I'm writing you this. In fact, I'll probably tear it to shreds as soon as I'm finished, but I needed to tell you – I needed you to know. I'm sorry that I hurt you. When I chose my pride and independence over sticking by your side, I chose not to believe in you. And I made the wrong choice. I knew that I was being selfish and unreasonable. I knew that it wasn't your fault that our first day of high school didn't go the way we imagined it. I mean, let's face it, we had this unattainable idea of what we wanted this day to be like – of what we wanted high school to be. It was never going to be what we wanted it to, regardless of whether we stayed in that hole for days or weeks or our entire freshman year. Things were always going to change, but I think that I let myself forget that one thing didn't have to – us. Our friendship.

But see, that's just it – friendship. Friends. We already said that's not what we are. We're more than that. You're more than that to me. And I think that our fight helped me realize that I never want to let you down again. I always want to be there for you. But not only that... I want to be with you, Riley. You. There, I said it. And I know this whole situation is complicated and we still have a lot to work out. But I needed you to know that you mean everything to me. And I hope that your faith that everything happens for a reason, and that all people are truly good at heart, and that second chances and destinies and fates do exist, still hold true to how you feel about me, because I know that's how I feel about you.

So this is what I need from you. I need you to never stop being exactly who you are. I need you to never stop believing in the impossible. And if I'm lucky – truly, unbelievably lucky – I can only hope that you'll never stop believing that you and I will be together someday. I'm writing this to the girl who believes. So please, believe in me.

Sincerely,

Lucas

Lucas stepped forward, with every intention of handing the letter to Riley. He had every intention of telling her how sorry he was for everything that had happened. But then he saw something that made him stop cold. It was faint, an after thought to anyone who wasn't paying attention, but it was there. A glimmer of doubt, of defeat, crossed Riley's face as she rested her head in between the slits in the railing. He had caused that. He had caused that feeling of helplessness and pain. He had caused the girl who believed in Pluto and strangers and friendship, to lose hope in everything that was important to her.

He had hurt her.

How could he ever ask her to forgive him for that?

"Lucas, you coming?" Zay appeared at the end of the hallway, books in hand, ready to walk to history together.

Lucas moved the letter from one hand to the other as he contemplated what to do. He wanted Riley to know everything that the letter contained. But he couldn't give it to her.

"Yeah, just give me a second," Lucas turned around and opened his locker. He took one more look at the letter. If he wasn't going to give it to her now, he didn't think he ever would.

"Dude, hurry up, class is about to start!" Zay warned him.

"Okay, I'm coming, hang on," Lucas grabbed his history book from the top shelf and shoved the letter in between two of the books he didn't need until tomorrow. As he spun around, he collided with a crowd of students rushing to get to their classes. Lucas' elbow slammed into the inside of his locker, and the contents of the top shelf spilled onto the ground. Lucas scrambled to pick up everything as fast as he could and quickly threw it back into his locker. He slammed the door shut and took a deep breath as he waited for the crowd to pass.

"Took you long enough," Zay joked, lightly nudging Lucas' shoulder with his elbow.

"Sorry, got caught up," Lucas took one last look at Riley before rounding the corner to head to their class. He and Zay kept their eyes straight ahead as they passed the "hole" without another thought.

–

Once the hallway had cleared, Maya practically ran up the stairs – happy to be out of that stupid hole.

"Come on, Riles, we've got Matthews next and you know how much of a pain he can be when we're late," Maya made her way to her locker, but turned back to wink at Riley as she followed close behind her.

"You go ahead, Maya. We've been in that hole a long time," Riley made a face and shuffled off to the bathroom.

Maya smiled to herself and shook her head at her best friend. She grabbed the books she needed from her locker, and slammed the door shut without worrying about the noise. With a smirk on her face, she sauntered down the hallway to wait for Riley outside of the bathroom, but stopped when something on the floor caught her eye.

"What's this? A note?" she whispered to herself excitedly. She bent down to pick up the letter, examining it closely. The envelope was blank – no address, no name, nothing.

"A mystery letter. How interesting," Maya flipped it over, preparing to open it, when something stopped her.

Maya would never be able to explain why she didn't open the letter, but as she placed her hand on the flap to lift it open, she somehow just knew. She knew that this letter was not for her, but for someone else. And she knew that whoever wrote it only wanted that person to see it.

Riley skipped out of the bathroom, and Maya shoved the letter in her back pocket before she could see it.

"Ready?" Riley smiled at her and Maya did her best to smile back.

"Yeah, let's go," Maya muttered.

Maya would never admit this out loud, but there was a part of her – a part hidden so far deep beneath the surface that she never thought would rise to the top - that had secretly been waiting for a letter like this to appear in front of her someday. It was a letter that was not meant for her, but for her best friend. Maya shook this thought from her head, planning to never read it. Planning to give it to Riley and call that the end of that. But as they settled into their seats in history class, and Maya reached in her back pocket to hand her the letter, she froze. She didn't want things to change yet. She wasn't ready.

"Secrets, lies, keeping things from the people we care about. It never ends well. And we have history to prove it," Mr. Matthews, began as he paced back and forth in front of the classroom.

Maya sank further down into her chair, the guilt starting to set in. She was going to give Riley the letter. In fact, she would give it to her after school. And they would deal with whatever it contained, together. Riley was the girl who believed in everything, especially friendship. She would make sure that nothing would change between the two of them and Lucas. Maya was sure of it.

But when after school came around, she found herself staring at the letter in her hands, the white colored tint seeming much brighter under the fluorescents. She stared. And stared. And stared. Waiting for the courage she needed to hand the letter to Riley to come. But it never did. So she slid it into her locker, wondering if it ever would. Or if this would be another secret she kept hidden from everyone, to stay closest to the people she loved. As she shut her locker door, the sound of the 'click' seemed to answer this for her and she turned her back without giving it another thought.


	15. Picnics and Piggyback Rides

**Request:** Rucas and piggy back rides

 **Title:** Picnics and Piggyback Rides

–

"Where are your shoes?" Lucas lifted his head slightly to take in Riley's bare feet and the guilty expression on her face.

"The strappy part at the top broke, so I ditched them in the trashcan back there," Riley explained, shifting from one foot to the next as she stood atop one of the benches attached to the gazebo. They were having their regular Sunday afternoon picnic in the park when Riley decided to get creative with some of the bottles they had for drinks with their meal.

"Riley, there's broken glass all over the floor," Lucas gestured to the shards of glass spread across every inch of the gazebo.

"Now, I wonder how that happened," Riley furrowed her brows together and did her best to look as innocent as possible.

"You said – 'hey watch me try to juggle these glass bottles' and then two seconds later you said 'hey look at these glass bottles on the floor.' That's how that happened," Lucas bent down to pick a large piece off the floor and gently set it in the plastic bag they were using to dispose of their trash.

"In my defense, the clown at Auggie's last birthday party said I was getting pretty good. I didn't think it would be that hard," Riley pointed out, squatting on the bench so that she was eye level with him as he continued to clean up the rest of their picnic.

"Riley, he has to say that. They pay him to be optimistic and cheerful and nice to everyone he meets," Lucas told her. He picked up their sandwich containers and placed them neatly in the picnic basket.

"You can get paid for that?" Riley's eyes went wide and Lucas couldn't help but crack a smile. "And here I was, perfectly content doing it for free all these years."

Lucas surveyed the gazebo's floor. There was still a considerable amount of glass that Lucas couldn't get with just his hands and the towel he was using as a makeshift broom, so he decided to call it quits until they could find someone to help them. He placed his hands on his hips and looked up at Riley with an exhausted expression on his face.

"Riley, how are we going to get you out of here if you don't have shoes?"

Riley raised her eyebrows mischievously, and Lucas immediately shook his head, already catching on to what she wanted from him.

"No, the last time I gave you a piggyback ride, it didn't go well, remember?"

"Lucas, how was I supposed to know you were ticklish behind your ears?" Riley tried her best not to let herself laugh at that, but she couldn't help it. The corner of her mouth curled up slightly into a smile and Lucas nudged her arm playfully. "Besides, that was a one time thing. It won't happen again. I'll be on my best behavior, I promise."

Lucas stared at her for a moment, as he weighed his options. He figured that getting tickled was a sacrifice he was willing to make so that Riley didn't have to make her way across the broken glass completely barefoot. His lips curled into a smile and he took a step towards her.

"Fine, hop on," Lucas turned around so that his back was facing her. "Grab the picnic basket."

Riley did as she was instructed, and carefully hopped on his back, placing both of her legs on either side of body.

"Yay!" Riley beamed.

Lucas made his way across the glass, carefully stepping around any pieces that looked especially dangerous. Riley rested her chin on his shoulder and smiled.

"See? Isn't this nice?" Riley asked him, lightly nudging him in the side with her knee. Lucas slowly stepped off the gazebo, taking one step at a time.

"Yeah, I guess it -"

As soon as Lucas stepped onto the sidewalk, Riley grazed two fingers along the back of his left ear, until it reached the bottom of his neck, and Lucas immediately dropped her onto the concrete.

"Ah!" Lucas shouted, as he instinctively clutched the back of his neck. "You promised!"

"Sorry, I couldn't resist," Riley laughed, still clutching the picnic basket.

"You're such a pain," Lucas joked, a smile forming on his lips.

"Yeah, but you love it," Riley smiled. When he didn't say anything, she raised her eyebrows and looked at him questioningly. "Right?"

"There's nothing I love more," Lucas took a step towards her, filling any space left between them. "Except maybe you."

Riley leaned in to kiss him, but Lucas pulled away, swiftly taking the picnic basket from her hands and positioning himself behind her.

"Now it's payback," Lucas put his hands on her shoulders and Riley twisted her head around to look up at him like he was insane.

"You're kidding, right?" Riley scoffed.

"Absolutely not, let's go!" Lucas clapped his hands together and prepared to jump on her back.

"Okay, let's try this," Riley shrugged, and bent her knees low to the ground.

As soon as Lucas jumped, Riley stumbled forward and they both fell sideways into the grass. They laughed like they had just heard the funniest joke in the world, as they took in the sight of their picnic basket spread out across the grass, and their legs tangled together like they were one of those giant pretzels they sold at the mall.

"We can't stop making messes today," Riley giggled. Lucas leaned forward to pluck a blade of grass out of her hair, but kept one hand on her cheek after he had tossed it into the field in front of them.

"You still owe me a piggyback ride," Lucas breathed, and Riley smiled as Lucas met his lips with hers.


	16. Let Them Hear You

**Request:** Hi, can you do a story where Riley is upset and hurt that Maya is getting all the attention from Cory and Topanga and Lucas notices and comforts and is there for Riley.

 **Title:** Let Them Hear You

–

"So, something interesting happened at school today," Riley announced, scooping a forkful of peas into her mouth and glancing at everyone around her. She sat at the dining room table with her parents, Auggie, and Lucas – a last minute invite that Cory was less than enthusiastic about.

"Yeah, honey?" Cory muttered into his dinner plate, without glancing up at his daughter.

"Yeah, so we were in English," Riley began, gesturing to Lucas with one hand and clutching her fork with the other. "And this guy who sits behind me was – "

"I can't believe this!" Maya exclaimed as she burst into the Matthews' apartment. Everyone at the table turned to look at her as she made her way across the living room and into the kitchen.

"What is it, Maya?" Topanga asked, concern written all over her face. Maya grabbed a plate from the cabinet above the sink and started piling food onto it from the stovetop.

"My art isn't getting chosen for the exhibit at the museum next week," she explained, moving around the table to situate herself between Riley and Lucas.

"Oh, no, Maya we're so sorry," Topanga reached across the table to take Maya's hand in hers. "Did the committee say why?"

"They were just looking for something different, I guess," Maya mumbled, taking a bite of her roll. "They only pick five pieces from each high school in the area. I guess mine just wasn't good enough."

"Maya I'm really sorry," Riley told her, and Maya looked up at her thankfully.

"It's okay, Riles, it just wasn't meant to be I guess. I don't really want to talk about it anymore, though," Maya moved her carrots around with her fork before taking note of everyone at the table. "What were you guys talking about before I got here?"

"Well, I was telling them what happened in English class today and – " Riley started to say, but was abruptly cut off by Maya's hand slamming forcefully onto the table.

"Oh! And one more thing," Maya declared, waving her fork in the air and pointing it at no one in particular. She immediately dialed back, realizing she had just interrupted Riley. "Sorry, Riles, I didn't mean to interrupt you."

"It's okay, Maya, whatever Riley has to say can wait. She doesn't mind," Topanga assured Maya, patting her hand quickly.

"Yeah, she can tell us later, right, honey?" Cory added, glancing at Riley for confirmation.

"Uh, yeah," Riley mumbled, feeling a little taken aback by her parents' responses. "Your day was much bigger than mine. You go ahead."

Maya continued talking about the museum and the piece of artwork that the committee picked over hers, but Riley wasn't listening. It's not that she didn't care – of course she cared about her best friend. But Riley felt like whatever she had to say always fell second to whatever Maya was going through. She felt guilty that she felt that way. But part of her couldn't help it. Riley stood up suddenly, her utensils clanging against the plate in protest.

"I have to go to the bathroom," Riley announced. Everyone at the table glanced up from their dinner plates to give her a strange look, but then quickly went right back to discussing Maya's artwork. Feeling a little hurt, Riley turned on her heel to head upstairs to her bedroom.

Riley sat at the bay window, the autumn breeze sending a much-needed chill into the room. There was a light tap on her door and she glanced up to see Lucas entering through the doorway.

"Is this seat taken?" He gestured to the seat next to her in the bay window and Riley shook her head. "So this is what the bathroom looks like now, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm not a very good liar," Riley admitted, pulling her legs up onto the bench and settling back into the mass of throw pillows behind her. They sat in silence for a few moments, just listening to the breeze coming in through the window and enjoying the cool air.

"Your parents seem to be giving Maya a lot of their attention lately," Lucas finally said, as he turned his body to face Riley's on the bench.

"I hadn't noticed," Riley brushed off the observation, and turned her head away to avoid Lucas' gaze.

"Riley," Lucas breathed. "It's okay to be bothered by it."

"I'm not – okay? Maya deserves to have two parents worried about her like that. She deserves to have what I've been lucky enough to have my entire life," Riley fiddled with a fraying piece of fabric on one of the throw pillows, and ripped it off with an unexpected fit of aggression.

"She has a mom, Riley," Lucas pointed out. "A mom who loves her more than anything."

"I know that," Riley sighed. She finally turned her head to meet Lucas' gaze. "But Maya and my mom are so similar. They're fierce and independent and strong. I think she needs someone like that in her life - not that her own mom isn't all of those things too. But it's just different somehow, if that makes any sense. And not to mention the fact that she needs a father figure. I just... I don't want to take that away from her."

"But you need your parents too, Riley," Lucas reminded her.

"Not as much as Maya does." Riley sounded so sure of herself – like she had made up her mind about this subject long before Lucas walked into her room and started talking to her about it.

"Riley, I love that you put your friends before yourself in everything you do, but there are some things that you don't need to sacrifice to make them happy," Lucas made sure that she was looking him right in the eyes for what he was going to say next. "And having your parents be there for you when you need them most, is one of them."

"I just want her to have a good life." Riley's eyes were starting to well up with tears, and she did everything she could to prevent them from falling onto her cheek.

"She does, Riley. Especially with you as her best friend. What more could she ask for?" Lucas placed a hand on Riley's arm and she smiled up at him, the tears finally starting to dry up.

"Lucas, how did you know to follow me up here?"

"I saw the look on your face," Lucas answered automatically, without having to think about it. "That was not a Riley Matthews type of face."

"I guess you know me pretty well, huh?" Riley sniffled and wiped the lingering tears from her eyes.

"I guess I do," Lucas said in almost a whisper. "Now, you should go back downstairs and talk to your parents. They love you, Riley, and so does Maya. Go work this out."

"Thank you, Lucas," Riley gave Lucas' hand a squeeze before standing up and walking towards the door. She glanced back at Lucas in the doorway and smiled at him gratefully before taking the stairs that lead into the kitchen.

Riley was glad she had Lucas there to push her into confronting the difficult things in her life that she sometimes swept underneath the rug and pretended weren't happening. She needed that. And she knew that he was right and that she needed her parents to hear her. Before entering the kitchen, Riley thought about Lucas' words. His voice lingered in her mind, giving her strength as she took a deep breath and stepped in front of the dining room table, ready to be heard.


	17. Mistaken Identity

**Title:** Mistaken Identity

 **Prompt:** Things get complicated when Riley meets Lucas' parents for the first time and they mistake her for Maya.

* * *

"Lucas, would you sit down already? You're going to burn a hole in the floor with all that pacing."

Riley sat on the couch in Lucas' living room, watching him as he made his way from the front door to the coffee table, and back again. As Lucas reached the coffee table for the hundredth time that night, he quickly glanced up at Riley, his expression distant and confused - like he had been stuck in a trance and had forgotten that there was another person in the room until that moment.

"I'm sorry, Riley," Lucas muttered to the floor. "It's just that my parents can be a little… I don't know. Difficult." He took a deep breath and rubbed the back of his neck - a nervous habit he developed years ago that only came out whenever his parents were involved.

"Lucas, parents love me. All I have to say is 'hi, I'm Riley Matthews' and they're hooked," Riley informed him, clearly confident in her ability to impress Lucas' parents. "There's nothing to worry about. I've got this."

Riley smiled at him reassuringly, but Lucas still wasn't convinced. He knew how likable Riley was - in fact, she was probably the most likable person he had ever had the pleasure of being friends with. But he also knew his parents. And he knew that they were not sunshine and rainbows like Riley.

"Riley, my dad can get really intense sometimes," Lucas warned her. "And when talking to my mom, keep in mind that she only hears what she wants to hear. And if it's not up to her standard in any way, you'd be better off talking to a brick wall because she'll totally block you out."

Riley rose from the couch and met Lucas halfway between the coffee table and front door, stopping him from continuing his restless pacing. She gently placed a hand on his shoulder and he reluctantly met her gaze.

"Would you stop overthinking this? I bet they're amazing," Riley assured him. "I mean, they raised you, didn't they? I'd say that's a pretty good indication of how great they are."

"Yeah, yeah," Lucas rolled his eyes out of annoyance, but could't help cracking the smallest smile at Riley's comment.

As he stared into her eyes, Lucas lost himself so completely that he had almost forgotten about his nerves. However, when they both heard a rustling at the front door, Lucas was snapped back to reality. He took a deep breath and smoothed out his button-down shirt."Okay, that's them. Stay cool."

"I'm always cool," Riley reminded him. To prove her point, she awkwardly leaned against the couch, sticking her hip out and placing her hand on top her head in the goofiest pose Lucas had ever seen.

"Riley!" Lucas protested, his heart beating so fast he thought it would jump out of his chest.

"Relax, Lucas!" Riley smiled, clearly pleased with herself for teasing him. She quickly lowered her arms and stood up straight just in time for Lucas' parents to walk through the door.

"Mom, dad! How was your flight back from Texas?" Lucas asked, his voice wavering only slightly.

"Oh, you know - dreadfully long and incredibly uncomfortable," Mrs. Friar spat as she crossed the living room to place her luggage by the set of stairs in the corner of the apartment.

"I swear this apartment gets smaller and smaller every time I step foot in it," Mr. Friar complained. Riley couldn't help but notice the slight twang in his voice as he spoke, making it very obvious that he was most definitely not from New York.

"Guys, I'd like you to meet someone," Lucas announced, placing a hand on Riley's lower back and leading her towards his parents.

Mrs. Friar glanced up from the bag she was rummaging through to tell her son that she was in no mood to meet anyone at the moment, when she noticed Riley standing next to him. Her eyes lit up and a look of recognition crossed her face as she stepped closer to them.

"Oh! Is this the girl you've been telling us about?" Mrs. Friar beamed, placing a delicate hand on Riley's arm as she met them in front of the coffee table.

"Yes, ma'am, I'm Ri - " Riley began to introduce herself, but Mrs. Friar cut her off.

"You're Lucas' artistic friend - Maya, right?" Mrs. Friar looked at her expectantly, but Riley was so taken aback by the incorrect assumption, that she couldn't think of a single word to say back to her.

"Uh, no, mom this is - " Lucas scrambled to correct his mother, but Mrs. Friar didn't want to hear any of it.

"Lucas, I thought you said she had beautiful blonde hair?" Mrs. Friar furrowed her brows together as she tried to remember the description that Lucas had given her months ago. "Oh, that's no matter, she's still just as lovely as you described her."

"Actually, mom, this is Riley Matthews. I talk about her all the time," Lucas reminded his mother, but she showed no indication of recalling this information. "She's one of my closest friends - the girl who fell onto my lap on the subway when I first moved here? The person who believed in me when Zay and I took that trip home to ride Tombstone the bull? Pretty much the only reason I stayed in New York instead of begging you to move back to Texas."

Mrs. Friar racked her brain for any memory of the girl that Lucas described, when something finally came back to her.

"The one who wants to be a bunny farmer?"

"Yes, that's me," Riley chimed in, finally able to find her voice again. "It's very nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Friar." Riley put on her nicest smile, trying her best to show Lucas and his parents that the case of the mistaken identity didn't faze her in the slightest.

"Are you an artist too, Riley? Like your friend, Maya?" Mr. Friar asked, trying his best to show interest in the whole situation.

"Well, I don't want to toot my own horn or anything, but let's just say that you haven't seen art until you've seen my famous purple cat," Riley bragged. "You'll never want to see another painting ever again, I'm telling you."

"How fascinating," Mrs. Friar mumbled, clearly unimpressed. "Lucas, why don't you invite your other friends over as well. Zay, that Farkle fellow, Smackle, I think you called her, and Maya. I'd love to meet them, they all sound so interesting."

Lucas knew that his mother was not an unpleasant woman. She was old fashioned, and proud, and loved when a woman had a strong voice and a talent for something worthwhile, but she was never outright rude or disrespectful like this. She was never intentionally mean to anyone she had just met.

"Mom," Lucas protested, glancing from his mother to Riley, and back again. The look on Riley's face said it all. She could no longer hide her hurt or disappointment in the fact that Lucas' parents didn't know who she was and could care less about getting to know her. They would rather get to know everyone else instead of her, and it broke her heart.

"Um," Riley whispered, the tears starting to well up in her eyes. "Lucas, I'm going to go home. It was really nice to meet you both."

Riley gave Lucas' parents a hurried wave goodbye, and headed straight for the front door without looking back at either of them.

"You're unbelievable," Lucas scoffed, completely astounded at his mother's behavior. "Riley!" Lucas quickly followed after her without saying another word to his parents.

"Tammy Friar, I know you know exactly who that girl is," Mr. Friar reprimanded his wife. "Why were you so rude to that poor girl?"

"I wouldn't say I was rude," Mrs. Friar mumbled under her breath. Mr. Friar gave her a look and she threw up her hands in defeat. "Okay, I was terrible. I know that. I'm a grown adult and I acted like a child."

"Thank you for admitting that," Mr. Friar placed a hand on his wife's shoulder and she looked up at him "What's going on?"

"I can tell how much he cares about her, Henry, and it scares the living daylights out of me," she admitted. "He's my baby boy. I already lost him to New York City. I can't lose him to a girlfriend, too - not yet anyway."

"He's only in high school, Tammy. You haven't lost him. Not even close."

"I know," she admitted, smiling sadly at her husband. "But the way he talks about her - it's the way I used to talk about you."

"Used to?" He nudged her playfully and her smile widened.

"You know what I mean."

"He's growing up, Tammy. But he'll always be your boy and he's always going to need you," Mr. Friar reassured her. "Riley Matthews is a good person. She makes our son happy and he wants more than anything for you to like her. Go apologize."

Mrs. Friar knew how right he was, so she nodded and headed to the front door to catch up with Riley and Lucas. She could hear them at the end of the hall, but couldn't see them, so she slowed her pace in an effort to stay hidden before rounding the corner to meet them.

"She thought I was Maya, Lucas!" Riley shouted, the sound echoing off the walls.

"I know, and I'm sorry. I told you she only hears what she wants to hear!" Lucas reminded her, trying his best to keep his voice calm in an effort to soothe her.

"And why did she only want to hear about Maya?"

"I don't know, I feel like I can't win in this situation," Lucas muttered under his breath. Riley lightly hit his arm, and he cautiously placed a hand on her shoulder. "Riley, I talk about you constantly, okay?"

"More than Maya?" Riley's anger was starting to subside, but part of her was still hurt over everything that had just happened.

"Riley!" Lucas protested, and she immediately shook her head in remorse.

"I know, I'm sorry," Riley mumbled as the unfairness of that question set in. "I just wanted her to like me."

"Oh sweetie, I do like you," Mrs. Friar emerged at the end of the hallway to meet them in front of the elevator. "And of course I know who you are, Riley Matthews, you're all my son talks about lately. The way I treated you in there - it was inexcusable."

Riley looked down at her hands, unsure of whether or not she should meet Mrs. Friar's gaze.

"Lucas has told us everything about you. In fact, I practically feel like I know you already," Mrs. Friar smiled, and Riley's lips slowly curled up at the corners to meet hers. "But I don't. And I'd like to change that. Please, come back inside. I'll fix us some ice cold lemonade and you can tell me all about your purple cats or that bay window I hear your so fond of."

"I'd really like that, Mrs. Friar," Riley beamed.

Mrs. Friar let Riley pass in front of her and she fell into step with Lucas.

"Thank you, mom," Lucas smiled down at her, and she placed an arm firmly around his shoulders.

"She's wonderful, Lucas," Mrs. Friar told him as they watched Riley skip down the hallway in front of them. "A little goofy - but wonderful."

"Yeah," Lucas agreed, his smiled widening as he watched Riley twirl her way down the hall. "She's Riley. And she's perfect the way she is."


	18. Don't Rock the Boat

**Request:** Lucas and Riley are on a boat for their date and Lucas falls into the water and pretends he's drowning. When Riley gives him mouth to mouth, Lucas starts kissing her back.

 **Title:** Don't Rock the Boat

* * *

"Are you insane?"

Riley gaped at the vessel in front of her, her mouth hanging open and her eyes widening ever so slightly. The sailboat rocked back and forth in the water, swaying in a way that Riley thought looked like a wave 'hello.'

"What?" Lucas stepped onto the dock next to Riley, and she slowly turned to look at him. "Too much?"

Before she could answer, Lucas hopped onto the boat, and it swayed violently in protest. Once he was sure that it had settled, Lucas held out his hand for Riley to join him.

"Lucas, we're having dinner on a boat!" Riley exclaimed, taking his hand and carefully stepping off the dock and onto the deck of the boat. It took her a moment to find her balance, but once she had, she was able to make her way to the table that Lucas had set up for the two of them. "Isn't this going to cost you a fortune?"

The table was garnished with white rose petals, votive candles, and a beautiful purple and gold centerpiece that sparkled in the moonlight. Riley couldn't help but feel her heart flutter inside her chest at the sight of it all.

"I called in a favor," Lucas smirked, crossing behind Riley to pull out one of the chairs and gesturing for her to take a seat. "I do have other friends besides our tight little group you know - the kind of friends who own boats."

Riley narrowed her eyes at him as he took a seat in the chair opposite hers.

"You mean your dad has the kind of friends who own boats," Riley corrected him. Lucas couldn't help but laugh at her ability to see right through him when he wasn't telling the whole truth.

"Yeah," Lucas admitted, picking up his napkin and placing it on his lap. "Pretty much."

Riley and Lucas ate their salads, all the while gazing out at the water and discussing how jealous their friends were going to be that they got to have dinner on a sailboat - or how much Maya was going to make fun of them for having dinner on a sailboat. Once she had finished, Riley stood from her chair and crossed the deck to peer over the side to get a closer look at the water.

"It really is beautiful out here," Riley admitted, leaning on the side of the boat and clasping her hands in front of her. Lucas stood from his own chair to take his place next to her. "There's nothing like being out on the open sea… Even if we are still docked."

"I'm glad you like it," Lucas smiled, leaning in close and nudging her with his elbow.

"Are you kidding?" Riley took a step backwards, throwing her arms out to the side in an effort to gesture to everything around her. "The fresh air, the tingly feeling you get in your nose from the smell of the salt water, the candles, the flowers, the-"

As Riley continued to describe the atmosphere around her, she also continued to step backwards. A few more words, a few more steps. And then one more. And then another, until she was one step closer to the edge of the boat.

"Whoa, there," Lucas rushed to her side, grabbing her wrist to stop her from falling backwards into the water. "Careful. You don't want to fall in do you?"

"I don't know," Riley breathed. Lucas was so close to her. He had one hand on her wrist, and the other on the small of her back. If she wanted to, she could take a step closer and their lips would touch. Just one more step, she thought. "I have a feeling that you'd be pretty good at saving me."

"What makes you think that?" Lucas whispered, leaning in even closer. Riley's heart was beating so fast, she was sure that Lucas could hear it.

"Just a hunch."

"And what about me?" Lucas' eyes were so bright, so full of longing. When Lucas took that one last step closer to her, Riley thought her heart was going to beat right out of her chest. "Would you save me if I fell off the boat?"

"I think you already know the answer to that," Riley closed her eyes, using all of her willpower to step around him and head back to the dinner table. "But let's not give me the chance to try, okay?"

"Deal," Lucas agreed, a bemused tone to his voice. "Okay, I have dinner all prepared. I just need to grab some pepper for the chicken… Oh, you know what, I think it's in the bag I left on the dock."

Lucas set the plates on the placemats sitting in front of them, and Riley quickly stood from her chair, ready to help however she could.

"I'll get it," Riley offered.

"No, no, you sit and relax," Lucas placed a hand on Riley's arm to gently guide her back into her chair. "I told you that I was making you dinner and that is exactly what I did - right down to the seasoning. I'll be right back."

"Okay," Riley conceded, lowering herself back into her chair. "You know, I really am impressed," Riley called out to Lucas as he made his way off the boat and back onto the dock. "I'll be honest, I didn't think you could pull it off. Farkle was sure that cooking was thing number 212 you couldn't do. I said that he was probably mostly wrong, but - "

Before Riley could finish her sentence, she heard a giant splash coming from somewhere below the dock that stopped her in her tracks. She quickly pushed her chair back and prepared to investigate.

"Lucas?" she called out, waiting a few seconds for him to respond. "Lucas is everything okay?"

When he didn't answer, she stood from her chair and headed in the direction of the splash. Riley peered over the side of the boat, but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, so she decided to check the dock. Logically, she thought to look out into the water, where it would make sense for something - or someone - to make that loud of a splash. She didn't think to look near the shore, underneath the dock. When she saw the dark figure lying cold and still at the edge of the shoreline, she hopped off the dock so fast she thought she was going to sprain her ankle.

"Oh my gosh, Lucas!" Riley panicked, dropping to her knees, and letting a shaky hand hover over Lucas' still body.

Riley quickly ran through the CPR/rescue training basics she had learned from the class her parents made her take when she started babysitting Auggie. Tilt head back, lift chin, pinch nose, cover mouth with yours, give two breaths.

"I can do this," Riley took a deep breath, titled Lucas' head back, and covered his mouth with hers, just as she was trained to do.

Just as she was preparing to give Lucas the two breaths he needed, she felt his lips pressing back firmly onto hers. Riley's eyes went wide, and she staggered backwards, watching Lucas laugh hysterically at the shocked expression on her face.

"Are you kidding me!" Riley yelled, her eyes blazing with anger. "Lucas, I thought you couldn't breath!"

"Oh come on, Riles, I was just messing with you," Lucas placed a hand on Riley's shoulder but she quickly jerked it away and smacked Lucas on the back of the head.

"Ow!" Lucas clutched his head and Riley turned to walk in the opposite direction.

"You are such a jerk!" Riley called back to him as she stomped her way onto the dock and Lucas quickly ran to catch up with her.

"Hey, Riley come on!" Lucas tried to grab her arm again, but this time she spun herself into him, coming just as close as they were before, and placing one angry finger on his chest.

"I can't believe you did that!" Riley was fuming as she pushed Lucas backwards onto the dock. "Haven't you learned anything from watching all those romantic comedies? The girl never finds the, "help me I'm drowning, but not really, I was just trying to be cute and get you to kiss me," fake-out, endearing. Never! In fact, it gets most of their sorry behinds dumped!"

"Riley, I'm sorry," Lucas placed a hand on her cheek, and when she tried to swat it away, he simply put his other hand on the other side of her cheek, ensuring that she was locked in on his gaze. "I was just trying to be funny, and I wasn't. I'm so sorry."

"It wasn't funny," Riley agreed, the anger slowly melting away the longer he held her face in his hands like that. "I was really worried, Lucas,"

"I know," Lucas breathed. " I shouldn't have done that. It was stupid and I wasn't thinking."

"Completely stupid," Riley placed a hand on his shoulder and leaned her forehead against his. "But I was pretty awesome, though, wasn't I?"

Riley couldn't help but smile at the memory of her heroic expedition off the dock, as she backed away from Lucas and headed back onto the boat.

"You were amazing!" Lucas met her smile as he followed close behind her. "You jumped off that dock so fast, I swear I saw lightning bolts shoot out of your feet."

Riley turned to face Lucas and he grabbed her hands in his.

"Plus," Lucas began, but stopped short before he could finish his thought.

"Plus, what?" Riley pressed, nudging him lightly in the side to urge him to finish what he was going to say.

"Plus, now we know that you would definitely save me if it ever came down to it," Lucas smirked, pulling Riley towards him and placing his hands on either side of her waist.

"You're just lucky I'm not going to kill you for that stunt you just pulled," Riley muttered, the corners of her lips pulling into the slightest smile.

"Fair enough."

With that, it was Lucas' turn to meets his lips with hers, just as Riley had done only moments ago. To his relief, she didn't push him away. And even though he knew he didn't deserve it for rocking the boat the way he did, she kissed him back.


	19. Tree's a Crowd

**Request:** I really need a one shot of Lucas and Zay's potential conversation outside before the "tree kicking". Did Zay talk him down? Did Lucas confess his feelings for Riley to Zay? Did the poor tree get kicked? Did Zay convince Lucas that there was another way to vent his feelings?

 **Title:** Tree's a Crowd

–

"Lucas, don't do it!"

Zay burst through the doors of the Mount Sun Lodge, following closely behind Lucas as he made his way out onto the front lawn. "That tree is innocent, it's done nothing to deserve this!"

"Relax, Zay," Lucas spun around, his eyes blazing and his fists clenching tightly together. "I just needed some fresh air."

"So, you're not going to kick the tree?"

"I want to," Lucas admitted, glaring menacingly at the large oak located directly in front of them. "I can't tell you how much I want to."

Lucas took two long, deep breaths, trying everything he could to reign in his anger.

"But you're not going to because you're better than that now. You know that there are better ways to express your feelings," Zay reminded him, giving him a pointed look and placing a gentle hand on his tense shoulder. "And I think you know why."

"Yeah, I do," Lucas breathed, his anger finally starting to subside. "Which is why I needed to get out of that room."

"Because you were jealous," Zay said matter of factly, as he made his way over to the bench located near the right side of the ski lodge.

"Jealous?" Lucas scoffed, trying much too hard to play it cool. "I wouldn't say I was jealous, necessarily."

Lucas and Zay sat side by side on the bench, and Zay turned in his seat to look at him.

"Look, I know a new guy can be kind of threatening, but you have nothing to worry about," Zay assured him. "You have no need to be jealous."

"Was it really that obvious?" Lucas shifted in his seat uncomfortably, and Zay patted him on the back.

"Come on, Lucas," Zay shook his head sympathetically. "You said - and I quote, 'If ya'll excuse me, I'm gonna go over there and maybe, I don't know, kick a tree,' right after you found out that conversation is the most important part of any relationship, and that Riley had just had an all-night conversation with Evan the front desk, mountain-guide guy."

"I didn't mean to get angry like that. Something just sort of snapped," Lucas explained. "When it comes to Riley and other guys I just kind of - lose it."

"I know," Zay sympathized. "And I know that I pose somewhat of a threat - "

"What?" Lucas furrowed his brows in confusion and Zay's eyes went wide with embarrassment.

"Huh?" Zay played dumb, using every bit of strength he had not to run in the opposite direction. "Who were you talking about just now?"

"Evan, the front desk, mountain-guide guy," Lucas explained, as if Zay was already supposed to have known this. "Like you just said, he and Riley were up all night talking. That's kind of a big deal."

"Oh, right," Zay stammered, acting like he had known that all along. "I knew we were talking about Evan."

"Zay, do we need to have a whole different kind of conversation here?" Lucas raised his eyebrows at Zay, giving him a bemused smirk that let Zay know that he was only joking.

"Haha very funny. Lucas, listen to me," Zay brushed him off, returning the conversation back to him. "It's obvious that you chose Riley."

"It is? How obvious? Do you think the girls know?" Lucas panicked, already running through how he was going to explain himself to them in his head.

"And because you chose Riley," Zay ignored him, and continued with what he was going to say. "You know that she's the friendliest person on the planet. She'll talk to anyone willing to listen. No, scratch that she'll talk to anything breathing. Sometimes things that aren't breathing - need I remind you of the hairbrush?"

"True," Lucas nodded, smiling to himself at the memory of crawling through the bay window to find Riley singing into her hairbrush.

"Anyway, my point is that you know Riley. And you know that she was just talking to that Evan guy because that's who she is. She likes you, man. Not some stranger with big sherpa dreams," Zay assured him, and Lucas sighed in relief. "But she's not going to wait forever so you need to tell her your decision. And I mean soon. Like today soon."

"You're right," Lucas agreed. "I know you're right, I just don't - "

"Want to hurt Maya?" Zay finished for him. He knew his best friend all too well, and all he wanted to do was fix this for him.

"Yeah," Lucas sighed, rubbing the back of his neck nervously and nodding in agreement.

Zay's eye wandered to the two people sitting in the bay window inside the ski lodge. He could only see their backs, but he knew exactly who they were.

"Something tells me that Maya's going to be just fine," Zay smirked, as he watched Maya hold up her and Josh's interlocked hands through the window. "You got the ring box?"

"Yeah, I've been carrying it around for weeks," Lucas admitted, removing the box from his back pocket and showing it to Zay.

"You're telling me that you've been carrying around a ring box with a jellybean inside, since that day in Topanga's?"

"Yeah," Lucas muttered, his eyes dropping to the bulky red box he was tossing back and forth between his hands. "I've wanted to give it to her so many times. It just - it never seemed like the right time. And then the whole thing with Maya happened and we put the breaks on the triangle."

Lucas turned in his seat so that he and Zay were facing each other head on. "I just want it to be right this time, now that I know we're ready to have a real relationship. I want my moment to be perfect."

"That's so romantic," Zay sniffed, dabbing the corners of his eyes with his shirt, as if attempting to dry up the falling tears.

"Are you crying?" Lucas asked, raising his eyebrows in amusement.

"So what if I am?" Zay snapped, but then immediately smiled as he realized that his joke had gotten through to him.

"You're ridiculous," Lucas smiled. "But you're also a great friend to talk to. Thanks for stopping me from kicking that tree. And for helping me decide what to do with Riley."

"Yeah, yeah," Zay smirked, nudging Lucas in the arm with his elbow. "Now, I know that you can't tell Riley your decision without talking to Maya first. So. Go back in there and solve this triangle!"

Lucas sprung off the bench and headed towards the front entrance of the ski lodge. Before he could get very far, Zay called back to him, and Lucas spun around to listen to what he had to say.

"Remember," Zay yelled, standing up and pointing to Lucas. "You're a secure western hero, man!"

"Yeah, I am!" Lucas stomped his foot, and pointed to his chest for emphasis, showing that he had all the confidence in the world to tell the girl he cared about how he felt about her.

With that, Lucas opened the door to the ski lodge and stepped into the beginning of the life that he had been waiting so long to live.


	20. Rules Set in Motion

**Request:** One shot after ski lodge of Cory's reaction from Lucas and Riley becoming a couple. Maybe him sitting them down to lay out new rules or something? Idk...

 **Title:** Rules Set in Motion

–

Cory stormed into his apartment, his head soaring with so many different thoughts and emotions as he dragged two very terrified teenagers through the threshold behind him. Topanga shuffled after them, shaking her head solemnly, as the pity she felt for her daughter and her first boyfriend, grew with each step they took.

"You - over there," Cory directed Riley to the couch, then quickly turned his attention to Lucas. "You - over there."

Lucas stumbled over to the other side of the couch, quickly glancing at Riley, his eyes pleading with her to stop her father from blowing a fuse like he always did when they were together.

"Dad, is this really necessary?" Riley muttered, her cheeks beginning to flush as the embarrassment she felt for herself and Lucas started to set in.

"My worst fears are coming true, of course this is necessary," Cory spat, throwing his arms in the air and shaking his head dramatically.

"Dad, you can't keep us from sitting next to each other, we're boyfriend and girlfriend now," Riley informed him, taking the risk and scooting closer to Lucas on the couch. "We are boyfriend and girlfriend now, right?"

Riley quickly glanced at Lucas for reassurance, and he smiled in response.

"Yes, we're boyfriend and girlfriend," Lucas assured her, purposefully avoiding Cory's gaze.

"Okay just checking," Riley smiled in relief. "I just love to hear you say it."

Riley and Lucas couldn't tear their eyes away from each other. It was as if they were the only two people left in the room and Cory and Topanga no longer existed. That is, until Cory cleared his throat and snapped the two of them back into reality.

"Okay, that's enough of whatever that is," Cory waved a hand in between them, and grabbed onto Lucas' shoulders. "Fine. You want to sit next to each other? You can sit next to each other. But I expect at least one Auggie-sized space between the two of you at all times. Auggie, would you care to demonstrate?"

Auggie emerged at the top of the steps, posing dramatically as he made his grand entrance into the room

"Yes, I would," Auggie cleared his throat, wiggled his behind, and prepared to sit on the couch. With that, Auggie shimmied his way in between Riley and Lucas, scooting them even further apart than before.

"If you are not this far apart at all times - I'm a comin' for ya!" Auggie warned them.

"Mom!" Riley protested, and Topanga simply shrugged in response.

"This is your father's thing, honey," she sympathized. "This is new territory for everyone so just… Let him have his Auggie-sized space, okay?"

"That's fine Mrs. Matthews, we can take it," Lucas assured her. He shifted his attention back to Cory, narrowing his eyes at him as he leaned forward on his elbows, trying his best to look as menacing as possible. "What else you got?"

"No more crawling through the bay-window unless another friend is present," Cory announced, smirking triumphantly at the rule he just put into place. "Preferably Zay, whose judgement I trust wholeheartedly. He's the only sane one outta all of ya!"

"Fair enough, sir," Lucas agreed, and everyone turned to gape at him in shock.

"Topanga, he's agreeing with me," Cory panicked, turning to his wife for help. "Why is he agreeing with me?"

"Things have changed between your daughter and me, sir," Lucas explained. "I think it's only right to be respectful of that change."

"Topanga!" Cory shrieked, grasping onto his wife's shoulders and giving them a frenzied shake.

"I - uh -," Topnaga fumbled for something to make this better for her husband, but she came up short. "I got nothin' Cory, this one here - this one's good," Topanga admitted, pointing to Lucas and smiling.

"What else sir?" Lucas challenged, bracing himself for whatever else Cory threw his way.

"Assuming that the two of you will want to go on these so called "dates" all the kids are raging about these days, I expect that you have her home by 9:30 sharp every night," Cory asserted, and Riley's eyes went wide in protest.

"Dad, come on," Riley begged. Cory glanced at his daughter to see her eyes pleading with him, and he softened his expression just a little.

"Fine. 9:45 - not a second later," Cory crossed his arms over his chest and stuck his nose up in the air, showing that he was holding firm to his offer.

"10:30, not a second later," Lucas offered, his expression remaining confident and leveled.

"You're negotiating with him?" Riley gasped, turning to her mother with wide eyes. "He's negotiating with him?"

"10:29, not a second later," Cory put his foot down, and Topanga ran a tired hand down her face in embarrassment.

"Deal," Lucas stuck out his hand for Cory to shake it, but he simply swatted his hand away like it was a pesky fly annoying him with every loud buzz.

"You did realize what you were marrying when you said 'I do,' right?" Riley, who was having trouble remembering all the stories that made her parents such a perfect match, asked her mother in complete awe. Topanga simply smiled in response, shaking her head at the memory of their wedding day.

"Oh, I knew all too well," Topanga assured her. "Didn't say I was in my right mind that day, though."

Cory crossed the apartment to stand next to Topanga and she nudged him as if to say - "What do you think you're doing?"

"Mr. Matthews?" Lucas asked, his voice coming out much less confident than it had been before.

"He's trying to talk to me, Topanga," Cory informed her. "Should I listen?"

"I don't know, this is getting pretty good," Topanga admitted. "I think you better."

Cory paused for a moment, as if to weigh his options, before taking a seat in the chair opposite Lucas and raising his eyebrows at him expectantly.

"Okay, I'm listening," Cory informed him, and Lucas took in a nervous breath as he prepared to say his piece.

"I care about your daughter, sir," Lucas began, his eyes meeting Riley's for a moment before returning them back to Cory's. "I care about her a lot. And I promise that I will treat her with the kindness and respect she deserves."

Lucas paused for a moment as he tried to piece together what he was going to say next in his mind.

"You've taught me so much since I've moved here, Mr. Matthews. But I think my favorite lesson you've ever taught was the day you told us what the secret of life was."

"People change people," Cory finished for him, his expression softening as Lucas' words began to resonate with him.

"Yes, sir," Lucas nodded. "You're daughter has changed my life, in so many ways. The least I could do is treat her with half as much kindness as she's shown me."

The room went silent as everyone waited for Cory's response. Riley wasn't sure if he was going to yell or steal Lucas' shoe or simply kick him out of their apartment altogether, but either way, she was positive that his response was not going to be a good one. That is why what he said next was the most shocking thing Riley had ever heard in her entire life.

"You did, good, Mr. Friar," Cory smirked, his expression much more amused than angry now.

"Wait a minute," Riley stood from the couch and turned to look at her father in utter confusion. "You mean, you're not mad anymore?"

"You didn't think I'd go through all of this and not teach you a lesson did ya?" Cory scoffed, picking up a banana from the bowl on the kitchen table and twirling it between his fingers.

"That was a lesson!?" Riley and Lucas gasped in unison.

"You just keep getting better and better at that," Topanga praised him. "I'll admit - I'm impressed. This is my impressed face."

"Tell me something I don't know, Topanga." Cory turned on his heel to head towards the staircase in the kitchen, a slight swagger in his step that let everyone in the room know how pleased he was with himself. "Come, on Auggie. Let's leave the two lovebirds to marvel in my teaching wisdom alone."

With that, Topanga, Cory, and Auggie headed upstairs to leave the couple sitting alone on the couch. To their dismay, Riley and Lucas barely even had the chance to turn towards each other before Cory popped his head back into the room, pointing a finger at both of them and narrowing his eyes.

"But just know that even though I'm not in the room, I'll be able to tell if you two so much as breathe on each other, ya hear me?"

"Yeah, and don't forget the Auggie-sized hole!" Auggie warned them, as he leaned around his father to glare at the couple on the couch. "I'm watching you two."

"Okay, I think you both could use a nap," Topanga grabbed them both by the shoulders and ushered them back upstairs, quickly turning back around to give Riley and Lucas a thumbs-up.

"Still sure you made the right decision?" Riley smiled awkwardly at him, glancing up to meet his eyes and then quickly averting them back to her hands resting in her lap.

Lucas noticed this and took one of her hands in his, squeezing it tightly.

"Best decision I've made so far."

Riley pulled Lucas to his feet, and they headed to the front door to take full advantage of the hour and a half they still had together before the agreed upon curfew. This may have just been a lesson, Riley thought, but Cory had another thing coming if he thought she wasn't taking him up on his offer. Well, on second thought, maybe she'd get him to lower it to 10:00. No one in their right minds would stay out past 10:00, after all!


	21. How Things Are Now

**Request:** Can u do a one shot where is the next day of school where they come back from the ski lodge, and Riley and Lucas acting all cute now that they are finally dating.

 **Title:** How Things Are Now

–

"Look at them," Maya grumbled, scrunching up her nose in disgust and slamming her locker door. "I wish I had smoothies to pour on both their heads!"

Maya and Zay leaned against their lockers, watching Riley and Lucas smile at each other like they were the only two people left on the planet, from across the hallway.

"Is this what it's always gonna be like? The cheesy smiles and googly eyes?" Zay whined, pulling his English textbook from his locker and shutting his door much more quietly than Maya just had. "Cause I did not sign up for googly eyes."

Riley's eyes lit up as Lucas gently slipped the books she was holding out of her hands and underneath his own books. Their finger tips grazed one another as he did so, and Riley swore she felt a spark of electricity shock her skin at the touch.

"Lucas, I'm perfectly capable of carrying my own books to class," Riley informed him, stepping forward to snatch the books from him.

"Yeah, but I'm your boyfriend now, isn't that what boyfriends do?" Lucas smirked, dodging her grasping hands by taking a step backwards.

"Yeah, maybe in 1955," Riley joked. "Besides, the classroom is like two feet away."

"Riley Matthews, I am carrying your books and that's final," Lucas asserted, standing up straight to look as confident and convincing as possible. "Don't try to stop me. I will fight you."

"Yeah and I'd win," Riley challenged, holding her arms out to the side as if to say, 'let's go, Friar!'

"Enough, already!" Maya protested, moving her hands up to her face to shield her eyes from the couple as she passed them at their lockers. "We get it - you're together, you're adorable, you like to practice prehistoric dating rituals, blah, blah, blah!"

Riley took a step closer to her best friend and placed two hands on either side of her face, squeezing her cheeks slightly so that Maya's lips puckered just the tiniest bit.

"Maya, is someone a grumpy Gus this morning?" Riley asked, and May glared at her in response.

"Riles, I love ya, I really do," Maya mumbled, her words barely audible as Riley squeezed her cheeks together. "But your happy is making me sick-y."

Riley quickly dropped her hands and smiled guiltily, like she knew she had went too far.

"Sorry," Riley grimaced, like she had just scraped her arm and was reeling from the pain. "We went overboard with the cutesy, didn't we?"

"Let me put it this way," Maya massaged her cheeks, as they turned to walk into their Spanish classroom. "It was your fantasy movie scenario, only twelve times worse cause it was real."

"We'll dial it back," Riley promised. "No problem."

Lucas quickly hopped around Riley and Maya to open the door to the classroom.

"Right this way Madame," Lucas gestured for Riley to enter the classroom with his free hand, his voice emitting the most terrible British accent Riley had ever heard. "Your classroom awaits."

"Oh yay! It's your fancy British guy, Mortimer!" Riley cheered, her smile beaming from ear to ear. "I love him."

"Please let me get through this day," Maya muttered under breath, moving past Riley and Lucas with her head ducked down. "Please, please, please."

Riley gently took either side of her dress in her hands and bent her legs to perform the most awkward curtsey that Lucas had ever seen.

"Why thank you Mortimer," Riley said in an attempt to match his British accent.

"You're quite welcome British Riley," Lucas smiled as she slipped past him to stand on the other side of the doorframe. "Hey, I'll meet you at your locker after class, okay?"

"Lucas, seriously, you don't have to do all this," Riley explained to him. "Carry my books, walk me to class – it's really not necessary."

"Riley, do you know how long I've waited to do this kind of stuff with you?" Lucas smiled, and he noticed that her eyes lit up just the slightest bit. "I know that couples don't always do this kind of stuff anymore. And I promise that it'll probably die down in like a week. But for now - do you mind if I carry your books and walk you to class from time to time?"

"I'd like that very much," Riley quickly placed a hand on top of Lucas' before turning around to head to her seat."Ta, ta Mortimer!"

As Riley took the few short steps to reach her desk, she met Maya's glaring stare and sunk down into her seat.

"That was the opposite of dialing it back, wasn't it?" Riley panicked, afraid that she had gone too far again. Maya met Riley's worried expression, and smiled softly at her.

"Riles," Maya began, taking her best friend's hand in hers. "You're happy. Happy in a 'makes me wanna puke my guts out' kind of way. But it's worth it to see you guys finally acting like a real couple. You're happy, so I'm happy. So continue on with your gushy couple-y bliss. I'll be over here trying my best not to vomit at the sight of it all."

"You're the best, Maya," Riley beamed, inching closer to Maya and slowly extending her arms. Maya immediately shook her head in protest.

"Hey, I didn't say the gushy cutesy stuff could transfer over to me!"

"Give me a hug!" Riley threw her arms out to the side and leaned over the desk to hug her best friend.

"No!" Maya fought Riley off, and leaned around her to shout into the hallway. "Lucas, your girlfriend's a freak!"

Lucas, who was heading up the stairs, stopped in his tracks to look back into the classroom. He couldn't help but smile at Maya's use of the words, "your girlfriend" in reference to Riley. He had waited so long to hear that. And now that he had, he didn't want it to ever stop.


	22. Wear My T-Shirt

**Request:** I've been reading (and loving) a lot of your fic lately. Could I request a rucas one shot/drabble thing? I just want something based on the song 'T-Shirt' by Thomas Rhett - and preferably something that is as fluffy and fun as the song :) Thanks in advance, if you find the time!

Based on these lyrics:

 _Next thing I know you were wearing my_

 _T-Shirt right there_

 _Your hair messed up like a Guns-N-Roses video_

 _Ooh ooh so hot_

 _Still got it up in my head, you were moving around in the TV light_

 _I ain't ever seen anything like, your dress, my floor, the way you wore, my my T-Shirt_

 **Song:** T-Shirt by Thomas Rhett

 **Note:** (Future Rucas) This takes place when they are right out of college or maybe mid-twenties or something. Lucas is living in Texas and Riley is visiting him for his parents' anniversary party.

 ****I do not own the song lyrics that this story is based on****

–

"Are you sure you're okay?" Lucas called to Riley from the bedroom of his tiny Austin apartment. She was across the hall in his bathroom, scrubbing the stain, which was the result of an extremely unfortunate mishap that occurred that night at dinner, out of her beautiful white dress.

"Yes, Lucas," Riley assured him, her voice coming out slightly muffled through the closed door. "I'm used to tripping and falling into things - kinda comes with the territory of being as clumsy as I am."

"Yeah, but you've never fallen into a 6 tiered cake before," Lucas pointed out, picking up the signed baseball on his nightstand and tossing it in the air. "That one was new even for you. Not to mention everyone else at my parents' anniversary party."

"About that," Riley paused for a moment as she rummaged for something in one of his bathroom cabinets. "On a scale of one to 'ban me from ever stepping foot in their house ever again' are they mad about that?"

"I'd say a solid six," Lucas told her, leaning back against his bed frame as he waited for Riley to finish up in the bathroom.

"I'll take it," Riley turned the knob on the door and stepped into the bedroom, still holding her soiled dress in one hand and a wet towel in the other. "Okay, I think I've gotten all the frosting out of my hair. But I'm about to call the dress a goner. Tell me - why did your parents have to have purple icing on their cake?"

"Because purple is…"

Lucas stopped talking. He stopped thinking. He stopped breathing. The baseball dropped to the floor and bounced it's way to the other side of the room, but Lucas didn't notice. The only thing he could focus on was the girl standing in front of him with nothing on but his favorite Knicks t-shirt.

"What?" Riley grabbed at her face, searching for anything that might make him stare at her like that. "Do I still have cake on my face? I thought I got it all, but…"

"Riley Matthews, get over here right now," Lucas muttered quickly, unsure of whether or not he was forming any coherent sentences. Riley slowly took a few steps to stand in front of him, leaving Lucas completely mesmerized. "You're wearing my t-shirt."

"Sorry, do you mind? I thought I had a spare set of clothes somewhere in my car, but-" Riley pulled at the hem of the shirt, making it come down just above her knees and Lucas took a step closer to fill the gap between them.

"Not only do I not mind, but I highly suggest that you wear my t-shirts everyday, all the time, for the rest of forever," Lucas' voice was insistent, and Riley couldn't help but blush at the way he was looking at her.

"You know, I'm not so sure that's socially acceptable around here," Riley joked, and Lucas put one hand on her waist to gently pull her closer.

"I suggest you kiss me, right now," Lucas whispered, leaning forward to meet his lips with hers. Just as Lucas' nose grazed the tip of Riley's, and their lips hovered over one another, the music that was playing softly in the background picked up and Riley pulled away quickly.

"Ooh, this is my favorite song!" Riley hurried over to turn up the music, dropping her dress to the floor and moving her hips this way and that as she found the beat. "Dance with me, Lucas!"

"You've seen me dance, before," Lucas smirked, watching as she threw her arms in the air and waved them back and forth. "I think I'll just stand back here and watch you."

Lucas took in the way she threw her hair around, sticky and knotted from the icing, to the beat of the music. It was such a mess, but it suited her, Lucas thought. Riley moved in front of the TV, and she picked up her movement as the silent program flickered across the screen in the darkness.

"Come on, Lucas!" Riley shouted over the music, as she did a shoulder shimmy move that made Lucas burst into laughter.

Slowly, he took a few steps to join her in front of the TV, bobbing his head to the music. Riley reached for his hands and they jumped up and down to the beat, laughing like they had just heard the funniest joke in the world.

"You know Lucas," Riley said in between breaths. "You really do have zero rhythm."

"I told you," Lucas laughed, keeping one hand on her arm and the other on her waist as the song came to an end.

Riley draped either arm over Lucas' shoulders, resting her head gently on his chest as they swayed to the soft hum of the air conditioner.

"God, you're beautiful," Lucas breathed, and Riley lifted her head to meet his gaze.

"I'm a mess," Riley giggled, gesturing to her hair and his ratty old t-shirt she was wearing.

"A beautiful mess," Lucas whispered, resting his forehead against hers and breathing in deep. "Who can really rock an oversized t-shirt." Riley and Lucas both smiled at this, as he finally met his lips with hers.

As the music picked back up again, they backed away from each other and danced - the girl who trips and falls into cakes and the boy with absolutely no rhythm - until the sun started to shine in through the curtains. They took the early signs of morning as the cue to stop and fall face first onto the bed, completely exhausted. As Lucas drifted off to sleep, Riley snuggled up in Lucas' t-shirt, silently thanking herself for being so clumsy.


	23. Don't Pull Away

Title: Don't Pull Away

Summary: Riley and Lucas are about to graduate high school, and Riley is furious with Lucas for how distant he's been lately. After an incident that set Riley over the edge, she takes her family's car for a drive out of the city to clear her head. To her dismay, car trouble causes her to seek help from the one person she was trying to get away from.

Riley leaned against her family's Volvo, shivering slightly as the autumn breeze settled into the early evening atmosphere. She had forgotten to wear a jacket that day, an oversight that didn't seem to matter when she was planning to take a quick drive outside the city and then head right back home. But now, as she took in the sight of her idle car and the darkness that was beginning to fall, she realized that she should have thought this act of rebellion through before going through with it.

A mix of fear and relief washed over her as the lights from another car appeared from behind her. The car pulled up right behind hers, and the lights quickly disappeared as the driver shut off the engine. As he emerged from the shadows, the fear and relief that she had felt moments ago, quickly turned to anger.

"What are you doing here?" Riley snapped, her tone coming off just as cold as the night air. Lucas met her in front of her car, and she crossed her arms over her chest in an effort to close herself off from him.

"Maya called me. Riley, what happened?" Lucas' voice was full of concern, but Riley didn't care. In fact, it made her want to turn around and start walking in the opposite direction.

"Nothing." Riley adjusted her body so that her back was slightly turned away from him and Lucas sighed in exasperation.

"Look, I know you're mad at me, but-" Lucas began, but Riley spun around so fast that her long braid nearly whipped him in the face, her eyes blazing.

"No, Lucas. I'm not mad. I'm furious."

Lucas had never seen her like this. This person wasn't the Riley Matthews he had known for so long. This person was foreign to him. And he couldn't help but think that he was the reason that she had made this sudden appearance.

"Okay, but that doesn't mean I can't help you," Lucas tried to reason with her, but Riley met him with a cold stare in response.

"I didn't call you for help, I called Maya."

"But she called me and now I'm here. Let me help you," Lucas insisted, his eyes pleading with her.

Riley considered her options. She could call her parents, and get grounded for taking the car without permission until she graduated college. She could call Maya again, but Riley figured she could no longer be trusted after she had betrayed her and called the enemy. She could let go of her pride and allow Lucas help her. Or she could walk back to her apartment, which was a good three hours from her current location if she travelled by foot.

"Fine," Riley caved, rolling her eyes at the limited options she had in this situation. "I think it's the engine. Or possibly a tire. I'm not really sure."

"Okay, I'll take a look."

Lucas lifted the hood and leaned forward to see if he could determine what the problem was. Riley kicked at a pile of rocks on the side of the road as she watched him. She considered if she should say anything more, or if she should go on ignoring him for the rest of the evening and just let him fix her car.

"For the record, I'm still mad."

Lucas shut the hood and walked slowly around the car, checking out every inch to rule out anything and everything that could be the cause of the break-down.

"I know you are," he lifted his head slightly to meet her gaze as he bent down to inspect one of the back tires.

"Can you fix it?" Riley asked, coming around to meet him at the back of the car.

"Yeah, you have a flat tire. I just need to-"

"I meant - can you fix _us_?" Riley's words left a chill in the air that had nothing to do with the weather. Lucas took a few steps closer to her, and met her gaze.

"Riley, that's not up to me."

In that moment, something snapped inside Riley. She had never felt this mad before in her entire life, and all she wanted to do was kick or scream or cry.

"You're wrong. You are _so_ wrong and it makes me so angry!" Her eyes were starting to fill with angry tears, and Lucas shook his head in confusion.

"Okay, I thought I knew why you were mad, but I think there's something more-"

"When are you going to fight for us?" Riley blurted out, taking a step closer, so that she was right in his face.

"What?"

"Every time we get into an argument. Every time anything happens you just stand there, being completely okay with it!"

"That's not true!" Lucas argued, his cheeks starting to turn the dark shade of red they turned whenever he got into an argument with someone.

"Remember what you were voted "most likely to" in our middle school yearbook?" Riley didn't wait for an answer, and Lucas shifted his eyes to the road to avoid her gaze. "Most likely to be okay with anything that ever happens."

"Riley, that's not fair. That was a long time ago. That's not who I am anymore."

"Then prove it!" Riley shouted.

"Fine. You want me to prove it?" Lucas raised his voice, his hands starting to tremble as the heat of the argument set in.

"Yes!"

"I'm terrified of losing you!" Lucas blurted out, and everything went silent around them.

"What?" Riley's voice lowered to barely a whisper, and Lucas took a deep breath as he prepared to explain himself.

"I don't want to go off to college and forget about who we've been for the past four years," Lucas admitted, his voice starting to crack as his emotions started to rise. "I'm afraid to think or breathe or move in just the wrong way to give you a reason to go off to college and never look back."

"Lucas-"

"I want to fight for us. I want to prove that I'm worth more than just a high school relationship to you," Lucas placed a hand on top of hers, and she furrowed her eyebrows as she struggled to understand what he was trying to say. "But I'm so scared that holding on too tight will drive you away. And not holding on tight enough will give you a reason to leave."

"Lucas, I'm here," Riley took both of his hands in hers and smiled up at him. "I'm right here. I don't know what's going to happen after we graduate. I don't know where we'll be. But this is what I do know."

"What's that?" Lucas shifted his weight back and forth between either foot, and Riley placed a gentle hand on his cheek.

"You are always going to be in my life," Riley assured him. "That's one thing I'm sure of. Maybe we'll be together in four years, and maybe not. But I will always be here for you. Always."

Lucas lowered his forehead to rest it gently against hers, and she took in a deep breath.

"What about you? What are you sure of?"

"I'm sure that I'm in love with you," Lucas breathed, never taking his eyes off of her. "And that's enough to give me hope for the future. That's enough for me to fight for _our_ future. I promise."


	24. Hazy Declarations of Love

**Request:** Can you do a drunk Riley one shot where Lucas takes care of her? Preferably when they're already dating.

 **Summary:** Riley and Lucas are seniors in high school, just arriving home from the winter formal. When Riley appears to be a little tipsier than normal, Lucas does what he can to take care of her without waking her parents.

 **Title:** Hazy Declarations of Love and Other Things

–

Riley swatted at the hair dangling in her face, using every ounce of strength she had left to remove the annoying brown strand that was poking the corner of her eye.

"Can't see," she whined, sounding much like she did when she was a scared little girl about to leave her parents on her first day of Kindergarten.

"Here, let me help," Lucas leaned towards her to tuck the strand of hair gently behind her ear, and Riley beamed up at him gratefully.

"You're so nice, Lucas," Riley complimented him, her words slurring just enough for them to come out as one jumbled mess. "The nicest nice person to ever rule nice-people land."

"Okay, yep, it's time for bed, Riley," Lucas dragged her over to the bed with one hand around her waist and the other reaching out for the dresser to steady himself.

"Did you know that I'm going be a bunny farmer?" Riley asked curiously, poking the side of his temple with her index finger and smiling up at him.

"Yes, I did know that," Lucas gave a short laugh, swinging her around to set her gently on the bed. "You're going to be the best bunny farmer that there ever was."

Riley clasped her hands firmly on either side of Lucas' face, and squeezed his cheeks lightly so that his lips puckered just the slightest bit.

"And you're going to be a veter-min-arian," Riley pointed out, then shook her head quickly as she realized that wasn't quite right. "A veter…"

"Veterinarian," Lucas finished for her, and Riley stood from the bed abruptly, planting two enthusiastic hands on his shoulders and leaning in close to his face.

"That's it!" she exclaimed. "You're so smart. Most people don't think that because you're so handsome with the face and the hair, but you're really, really smart. And so nice. You're just so nice."

"Yes, you've already said that Riley," Lucas informed her, gently lowering her back onto the wall of pillows propped up against the bed frame. "Let's get you into bed."

Lucas helped Riley take off her shoes, and she chucked them across the room so that they landed with a 'bang' against the door.

"Shhh! Riley, you'll wake your parents," Lucas warned her, placing his hands over hers to prevent anything else from being thrown.

"Shhhh," Riley giggled, throwing her head back onto the pillows.

"Okay, I'm just going to sit here for a while until you fall asleep," Lucas squeezed her hands before taking a few steps backwards to sit at the bay window. "Get some rest, okay?"

"Wait!" Riley shouted, sitting up so abruptly that half of the pillows spilled off the bed into a heap on the floor. "I need my pajamas."

"Uh - okay, just a second," Lucas muttered, turning on his heel to rummage through the dresser for something for her to wear. He had seen Riley packing for trips to visit her grandparents dozens of times, so he knew exactly which drawer to find the pajamas. He picked out a pair that he knew she loved and walked back over to the bed to hand them to her. "Here you go."

"Yay!"

Riley immediately began to remove her floral-print dress without giving it a second thought, and Lucas turned around so quickly that he lost his balance and had to grab onto the desk next to him for support.

"Whoa! Riley, hang on let me give you some privacy," Lucas, ever the gentlemen, took a few steps away from the bed and placed a firm hand over his eyes to ensure that he wouldn't be able to see anything that might violate Riley's privacy.

"Are you dressed?" Lucas asked cautiously after a few seconds.

"Yep!"

Lucas turned around slowly, taking a quick peek back towards the bed to make sure that she was fully clothed. When he saw that she was, he crossed the room to sit next to her on the edge of the bed.

"I think I'm a little bit drunk," Riley concluded, placing two fingers on either temple and massaging them slowly in small, circular motions.

"I think you're right," Lucas smiled, resting his arm on the pillow behind Riley's head so that he could lean in close to her.

"The punch wasn't just punch, was it?" Riley asked, scrunching her eyebrows together and squinting up at Lucas, as if the overhead light above him was just too bright.

"That would be a big no," Lucas laughed, gently stroking her sprawled out curls on the pillow closest to him. "I warned you about it. I could smell that stuff from a mile away."

"Then why did you let me keep drinking it?" Riley mock-accused him, pointing her finger at him and poking him in the chest.

"I didn't," Lucas smiled at her knowingly. "I took your cup away after just a few sips."

"Oh," Riley mumbled, sinking down into the covers so that her eyes were the only part of her that Lucas could see.

"I guess it doesn't take much for you to get like this," Lucas laughed, pulling the comforter down so that he could see her whole face.

"Thank you for taking care of me," Riley whispered, her words coming out a little more clearly as the effects of the alcohol were starting to wear off.

"Always," Lucas whispered back, placing his forehead against hers and smiling.

"If I've said anything embarrassing tonight, promise you'll forget that I ever said it?" Riley requested, her eyelids starting to droop as they filled with a heavy sleepiness brought on by the alcohol and the events of the night. "And never tell me about it until the day I die?"

"I promise," Lucas assured her, quickly kissing her on the forehead before standing from the bed to take his place at the bay window. "Now get some rest."

"Kay," Riley murmured, her eyes almost completely closed. "Night, Lucas. I love y…"

Riley trailed off as she fell into a deep sleep, making her last few words almost incoherent.

"What?" Lucas scrambled to his feet and shuffled back over to the bed, shaking Riley lightly on the shoulder at an attempt to jolt her awake. "Riley, what did you say?"

Riley replied with a great big snore, as she flung her body to the other side of the bed, away from Lucas.

"Riley? You love what? You love yo-yo's? Yodeling? Yosemite National Park?Riley? Riley!?"

Lucas knew that it was no use – Riley was dead asleep. And he knew that he promised not to hold anything that she said that night against her, but he had to know what she loved. So he decided that he was going to make this one half-declaration an exception. Because if she said what he thought she said - their whole world was going to change.


	25. Figurines in a Snow Globe

**Summary:** Riley and Lucas are married and visiting relatives in a small town in New York, when Lucas gets the idea to have a little dance session in the middle of the snowy street in town square.

 **Title:** Figurines in a Snow Globe

 **Based on this lyric from Taylor Swift's song You Are in Love:** _You two are dancing in a snow globe round and round_

–

"Dance with me," Lucas whispered, leaning in close to Riley's ear before stepping off the sidewalk and holding out his hand for her to take.

"Lucas," Riley shook her head, adjusting her wool cap and smiling shyly at him. "It's snowing."

"All the more reason to dance," Lucas informed her, stepping out into the middle of the still street, making sure to look both ways for any oncoming cars.

"It's so quiet," Riley pointed out, her breath showing in the crisp, cool air. "You can't dance when it's this quiet."

"Says who?" Lucas smiled, taking a few steps backwards into the street. "Sometimes silence makes the best music."

Seeing that she wasn't going to budge, Lucas returned to the sidewalk and pulled her onto the street with him, the snow coming down even harder than before.

"Dance with me," he repeated, and this time she followed his lead and placed either hand on his shoulder, shaking her head at him in complete awe.

"I feel ridiculous," Riley mumbled, letting Lucas place his hands on either side of her waist as she slowly met his eyes. "And we're going to get hit by a car if we stay out here too long."

"Riley, it's midnight and we're in the smallest town in New York," Lucas joked, a teasing tone to his voice. "Possibly even America. I think we should be fine."

"If you say so," Riley said skeptically, starting to feel more at ease as they swayed back and forth to the sound of the wind and the sight of the snow falling into heaps on the cars parked on the side of the road next to them.

"It's like we're those little figurine couples that you see in snow globes," Lucas pointed out, his voice soft, almost wistful, as they danced under the sleepy night sky. "You know the ones that you always see spinning and twirling round and round in their little bubble."

Riley looked up at the scene around them. The road was covered with a fresh blanket of snow, their footsteps showing much more clearly as they continued to move around the pavement in front of them.

"We do kind of look like that, don't we?" Riley returned her attention back to Lucas and smiled up at him.

"Still think it's not a good night for dancing?" Lucas raised his eyebrows at her as he anticipated her answer.

"No," Riley admitted, resting her head on his shoulder. "It's the perfect night for dancing."


	26. Second Time's a Charm

**Request:** Riley and Lucas visit Texas where Lucas has planned to recreate how he intended his night to go, before the brother zone, all those years ago

 **Title:** Second Time's a Charm

"You're getting better at that," Riley announced, as she made her way into the living room of Pappy Joe's ranch house in Texas. "That bull was even tougher than Tombstone, and you stayed on twice as long. See, I knew you could do it. I don't know why you always doubt yourself like that!"

"Yeah, well," Lucas shuffled in behind her, standing in the open area between the front door and the couch. "I had a pretty good cheering section."

"I was pretty good wasn't I?" Riley beamed, smiling to herself as she reveled in her impressive skills as a cheerleader.

"You're always there for me when I need you," Lucas told her, making sure that she was locked in on his gaze. "Riley, there's something I want to say to you."

"Okay," Riley smiled up at him, and Lucas took a deep breath as he prepared to say what he had practiced so many times in the mirror before they arrived in Texas.

"If it wasn't for you, I don't know if I would have gotten on that bull today," Lucas began, and Riley swore that this sounded a lot like something she had heard before.

"You've always had it in you, Lucas," Riley assured him, lightly touching his shoulder. "Sometimes we just need a little encouragement from the people in our lives to do the things we aren't sure about."

"That's just it," Lucas told her. "You've always been there for me from the very beginning. In fact, if it wasn't for you, I don't know if I would have survived in New York."

"Okay, this is sounding very familiar," Riley pointed out, knitting her eyebrows together as she remembered the night that they first came to Texas a few years ago.

"I want to get it right this time," Lucas took Riley's hands in his, as he drew in another breath. "We've had this conversation before, right in this exact spot. But things are different now. And I want it to be right."

"Continue," Riley instructed him, biting her bottom lip as she tried to stop her smile from ruining her attempt at being serious.

"You're really important to me," Lucas declared, repeating the exact same words he used when they first had this conversation.

"You're really important to me too, Lucas," Riley replied, and Lucas held his breath as he waited for her to finish. When she said nothing more, he gestured for her to continue.

"That's all," Riley smiled, but then changed her mind as she thought of something else to say. "Well, except maybe this – I've loved being your friend ever since you came to New York back in middle school. But I've also really loved being your girlfriend. It's been everything to me, and I wouldn't change a thing."

"Really? So you don't think of me as your brother anymore?" Lucas only half-joked, hoping that Riley would understand what he was trying to say.

"I hope not, because that would be kind of weird don't you think?" Riley asked, scrunching up her nose in mock-disgust and attempting to wink at him. "Besides, there's only room for one brother in my life. And he's much shorter than you and still takes naps."

"Good point," Lucas admitted, as he remembered the serious conversation he had with Auggie in which he had to squeeze himself into a tiny little chair in his bedroom as he listened to the speech about how he was the only brother for Riley, not Lucas.

"I love you Lucas," Riley breathed, stepping closer to place a hand on his cheek. "And now I know how."

"Now I know how too," Lucas leaned forward, and instead of Riley kissing him on the cheek - he kissed her on the lips, the way he had always intended this moment to go in the back of his mind.

Lucas turned on his heel to face the front door, and stuck out his hand for Riley to take it. "Late night talk under the stars?"

"That's my favorite thing in the world to do with you," Riley took his hand and they stepped onto the front porch, where the stars and the night sky were waiting for them.


	27. Sleepy Study Sessions

**Request:** Could you do a one shot where Riley and Lucas are studying at his house and they fall asleep and cuddle

 **Title:** Sleepy Study Sessions

–

"I should go," Riley announced, standing from the couch and gathering her backpack from the floor. "It's getting late."

"No!" Lucas objected, dropping his history book onto his lap and looking up at her desperately. "You promised you'd help me study this section on the Spanish-American war before the test tomorrow!"

"Lucas, do you have any idea what time it is?" Riley's eyes went wide, as if Lucas not realizing how late it had gotten was the most shocking thing she had ever heard.

"Yeah," Lucas told her, lifting up his phone to show her the numbers blinking on the screen. "It's only 9:45."

"Only?" Riley scoffed, shaking her head in utter disbelief. "Lucas, it's almost 10:00."

"Yeah, and?" Lucas looked at her expectantly, pursing his lips in an effort to keep a straight face.

"10:00 P.M!" Riley exclaimed, throwing her arms out to the side dramatically. "As in, nighttime! If I left now I'd be home by 10:07. I mean that's just unheard of, Lucas."

"Riley, please?" Lucas stood from the couch to take her hands in his. "For me?"

The corners of his mouth curled up into that smile that made Riley melt, as he moved one hand to cradle her cheek gently.

"Yeah, okay, fine," Riley caved, setting her bag back on the carpet and reclaiming her seat next to him. "But I'm only doing it because I can't resist that smile of yours."

"Thank you," Lucas smiled, hopping back onto the couch and retrieving his book from the coffee table.

"Okay, so the war began in 1898 after the explosion of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor…" Lucas began to read from the section that they were studying in their textbook, but stopped suddenly as he realized how still Riley had become. He had gotten all the way through the first few pages before he noticed the soft sound of leveled breathing coming from the tired girl sitting next to him. "Riley?"

Lucas nudged her arm slightly, but she didn't stir, so he set his book onto the coffee table and turned in his seat to try a different approach.

"Riley? It's Mortimer here," Lucas said in his terrible British accent that he knew Riley loved. Lucas grazed his hand across her cheek, and she smiled slightly, but still refused to open her eyes. "You can't seriously be asleep right now."

Riley answered by turning over and curling up close to Lucas' side, resting her head on his chest, just below his chin.

"This was your plan all along wasn't it?" Lucas teased a motionless Riley, reaching around her to grab his history book from the table and smiling as she snuggled even closer to him. "Well would you look at that – 10:00 on the dot. I guess you weren't kidding about needing to get home, were you?"

Lucas rested his head against hers; suddenly forgetting about the Spanish-American war and the test he had the next day.

"Riley?" Lucas asked, lifting his head slightly to stare at her closed eyelids. Riley mumbled an incoherent answer in response and Lucas smiled. "How are we going to get you home?"

Riley threw her arms out to the side, indicating that she already had a solution to this. She wanted him to carry her the five blocks it took to get to the Matthews' apartment from where he lived and Lucas immediately shook his head in protest as the realization hit him.

"Riley Matthews I am not carrying you all the way home," Lucas informed her, lifting her head slightly so that she was sitting up straight. Her head bobbed forward, but she opened her eyes just the tiniest bit to meet Lucas' gaze.

"Tired," she grumbled, throwing her head back onto his chest and burying her face into his sweatshirt.

"Yeah, I guess that's my fault for making you stay here when I knew it was past your bedtime," Lucas admitted, and Riley nodded in agreement. "Okay, fair is fair. Hop on."

Riley immediately perked up, launching herself off the couch and slinging her backpack over her shoulder.

"Yay!" she exclaimed, the tiredness that lingered only moments ago disappearing as the excitement took over.

"But I'm only doing it because I can't resist that cute snore of yours," Lucas repeated her line from earlier, and she lightly smacked him on the shoulder.

"Hey, that's my line!" Riley joked, stepping around him as she prepared to hop onto his back. "And I do not snore!"

"You do," Lucas informed her, craning his neck to smile back at her. "But it's adorable."

"Yeah, yeah let's go," Riley patted his shoulders impatiently, showing way too much enthusiasm for someone who could barely keep her eyes open long enough to walk home. Realizing this, Lucas turned back one last time to raise his eyebrows at her and she rested her head on his back to prove how tired she really was. "So sleepy."

"I'll bet," Lucas laughed, bending his knees a little to make it easier for her to hop onto his back.

Lucas had gotten about a block down the street, reciting the facts that he needed to know for his test the next day when he realized that Riley had once again gone entirely too quiet. He was about to ask her if she was okay when he heard the faint sound of her snoring coming from behind him. The rhythm of his steps matched the rhythm of her breathing, and Lucas smiled to himself as he walked the remainder of the distance to her apartment to the tune of Riley's sleeping.


	28. Girlfight

**Prompt:** Give me a pairing and 3 nouns (hurt, jealousy, girlfight)

 **Pairing:** Rucas

 **Title:** Girlfight

–

Lucas pushed through the double doors of Abigail Adams High School and shuffled down the hallway to see a bruised and battered Riley Matthews slumped tiredly over a desk in her father's classroom.

"Riley, you're hurt! What happened?"

Riley's head shot up suddenly at the sound of Lucas' voice, and her hand immediately flew upwards to touch the sore spot under her eye self consciously.

"I'm fine, Lucas," she assured him, and he quickly pulled a desk closer to hers and leaned forward to exam her more carefully. "It looks worse than it is. Honest."

"Riley, you got into a fight!" Lucas exclaimed, placing a gentle hand on her cheek and moving her face this way and that to check for any more bruises. "How can you be fine?"

"I think the term you're looking for here is girl fight, Huckleberry," Maya corrected him, stepping forward from her spot in the back of the room to lean against the teacher's desk in front of them. "And our Riles here held her own like a real champ. I mean, the girl went right for Riley's hair, but she pushed her away and started clawing at-"

"Maya is over-exaggerating, Lucas," Riley assured him quickly, shooting Maya a look that read, 'please stop talking' and quickly turned her attention back to a worried Lucas. "It really wasn't that bad."

"Riley, you have a black eye," Lucas pointed out, lightly brushing his fingers over the bruise, causing Riley to wince. "And your lip is swollen."

"Trust me, this isn't half as bad as the Riley-sized hand print on the other girl's face," Maya joked, and Riley quickly stood from her chair to place a firm hand over Maya's mouth to silence her.

"Maya, you're making things worse," Riley whispered in her direction, and Maya threw her hands up innocently in defense.

"What? I didn't even tell him how you got the black eye. I was letting you hold onto your dignity," Maya explained, and Riley simply narrowed her eyes in response. "Okay fine, I'll be over there practicing that killer move you did with the elbow and the kick-flip thing-"

"Maya!" Riley protested, nudging her in the side in an effort to stop her from saying anything else.

"Sorry, yeesh, I'm going," Maya muttered under her breath, pushing off from the desk to head to the back of the room and step out into the hallway.

Lucas stood from the desk to take Maya's place next to Riley, and he knitted his eyebrows together in concern as he met her gaze.

"Lucas, it wasn't a big deal," Riley repeated, taking his hand in hers and smiling up at him reassuringly.

"You never get into fights," Lucas stated matter-of-factly. "In fact you're the most peaceful person I've ever met. You made everyone you know sign a contract promising they would ban fly swatters from ever crossing their thresholds in the effort to save at least one innocent fly's life. What got into you today?"

Riley was silent for a moment as she considered how much she should tell him. She was never really the type of person who got embarrassed about this kind of thing. She figured that she got herself into embarrassing situations on the daily, so she might as well start putting up a wall for feeling that kind of emotion. But this was different. This was admitting that she was just as vulnerable and insecure as she had feared for so long. And that was terrifying.

"Jealousy," Riley admitted, quickly averting her eyes from his gaze to stare at the colored tiles on the floor in front of her.

"What do you mean?" Lucas furrowed his brows in confusion, not entirely sure where she was going with this confession.

"You know your chemistry lab partner?" Riley asked, scratching the back of her head nervously and raising one eyebrow at him.

"Fiona Lennox," Lucas answered, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "Yeah, why?"

"Flirty Fiona," Riley corrected him, and then quickly gestured towards Maya pacing back and forth in the hallway behind them. "That's what we call her."

"You think she flirts with me?" Lucas shook his head in disbelief, unable to wrap his head around this type of observation.

"Lucas," Riley scoffed, narrowing her eyes at him. "Come on."

"I guess I don't notice that sort of thing," Lucas shrugged, and Riley suddenly realized that he was being 100% honest.

"How could you not notice something like that?" Riley exclaimed, lightly pushing his shoulder as the surprise settled into her expression. "She couldn't make it any more obvious if she had a flashing sign plastered to her forehead. 'Oh Lucas, I've never held a beaker over the burner before, my hands are just so delicate, I might drop it right onto that open flame there!' It's vomit inducing!"

"You don't even have to hold the beaker, there's a stand that-" Lucas tried to correct her, but Riley cut him off before he could even finish his sentence.

"You get my point!" Riley threw her arms up in exasperation, and Lucas did everything he could to stop his lips from curling into an amused smile. "Her flirtatious ways cloud her judgment, okay?"

"Okay, now who's over-exaggerating?" Lucas couldn't control the smirk from creeping onto his face anymore and Riley's eyes widened as she slumped back onto the surface of her father's desk.

"Oh no," she mumbled, placing a hand over her forehead and shaking her head in disbelief. "Who am I? What have I become?"

"Riley…" Lucas reached out to place a hand over hers, but she quickly repositioned herself on the desk so that her body was completely facing his.

"I'm ashamed," she announced. "I'm bruised and ashamed."

"No, stop, it's okay. Come here," Lucas grabbed her foot with one hand and gently pulled her closer to him on the desktop. Once her legs were draped across his lap, he leaned in close to her and smiled. "You want to know why I don't notice when Flirty Fiona is using her 'flirtatious ways' on me?"

"Why?" Riley pulled at the fraying piece of fabric on the bottom of Lucas' blue button-down shirt, but refused to meet his eyes.

"Because when she's looking at me, batting her eyelashes like she has something in her eye, I'm usually staring across the room at someone else."

"Who!?" Riley's head shot up to glare at him accusingly and Lucas met her gaze with an amused smile. The recognition settled into her expression a second later, and she laughed at her ability to jump the conclusions so quickly. "Oh you mean me."

"Yes, I mean you," Lucas returned her smile and placed a hand on one of her cheeks, gently rubbing his thumb back and forth across the surface. "You're the only girl I notice in that way. Flirty Fiona is nice and all, but she doesn't stand a chance."

"Good answer," Riley whispered, and he leaned forward to kiss her forehead.

"So are you ever going to tell me how you really got that black eye?" Lucas raised an eyebrow curiously, and she scrunched her nose up in disgust at the thought of telling him this story.

"We were outside for P.E, I tripped on a basketball, and ran into a low-hanging tree branch trying to run away from her," Riley blurted out quickly, gesturing to her eye and wincing dramatically.

"Now that sounds like the Riley Matthews I know," Lucas teased, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear before hopping off the desk and extending a hand for Riley to join him.

As Riley took his hand and swung her legs off the desk, Maya popped her head back into the classroom and gestured for them to come closer to her.

"Okay now that you've told him the truth and went into gushy lovey-dovey mode, can I please tell him the story of how you ended up accidentally pushing Fiona over after you hit that tree branch and landed palm-first onto her face?" Maya asked enthusiastically, and Lucas looked back at Riley curiously.

"Go for it," Riley smiled as she watched Maya drag Lucas out of the room by the arm, and lead him over to the bench at the top of the stairs to tell him the story of the "girl fight" that turned out to be much more innocent than he had originally thought.

So Riley couldn't actually fight someone who was flirting with her boyfriend, but the jealousy she felt when she saw Lucas and Fiona together was real. And maybe, she thought, that meant that what she felt for Lucas was turning into something much more serious than she realized.


	29. You Jump, I Jump

Pairing: Rucas

Prompt: Pairing + Autumn leaves

–

The air was crisp as Riley and Lucas stepped onto the front steps of her apartment building. As she shut the door behind her, Riley turned her attention to the pile of leaves raked off to the edge of the sidewalk. They were tucked in the corner near the side of the steps and she smiled up at Lucas mischievously as a brilliant idea crossed her mind.

"I dare you," Riley challenged, raising her eyebrows at him playfully and taking a step towards the pile.

"Do you have any idea the number of creepy crawly things that are in there?" Lucas joked, folding his arms over his chest defiantly. "No way!"

"Oh come on, you can't be afraid of a few bugs," Riley told him, pulling on the sleeve of his striped sweater and turning to face him. "It's tradition! Auggie and I always make the biggest pile of leaves that we can possibly make, we hold hands, and together we jump off the bottom step into the pile. It's magical, Lucas."

"Was this yours or Auggie's idea?" Lucas smiled at Riley knowingly, and she bit her bottom lip and averted her eyes. "Let me guess - it was yours."

"It was a mutual agreement," Riley said matter-of-factly, nudging Lucas and sliding her hand down his arm to lace her finger with his. "Come on, Lucas. The leaves are so crisp and beautiful and if we don't do it now, they'll be dead and crunchy to the point where we would just land straight onto the concrete."

Lucas shifted from one foot to the other without looking in Riley's direction, glancing down at the pile skeptically.

"Please?" Riley pressed up onto her tiptoes and leaned on Lucas' shoulder so she could whisper in his ear. "For me?"

Lucas felt himself giving in as he finally turned his head to meet Riley's gaze. She was looking at him with those eyes that could melt anyone's heart and he couldn't say no.

"You, jump, I jump," Lucas shrugged, taking a step down to meet her at the edge of the concrete that reached the top of the leaf pile.

"Yes!" Riley exclaimed, jumping up and down excitedly and grasping for Lucas' hand. "Okay, on the count of three!"

"One," Lucas began, glancing at Riley clutching his hand and smiling giddily at him.

"Two," Riley continued, taking a step closer to the edge as she prepared to jump.

"Three!" They finished in unison, bending their knees and jumping off the ledge to land in the pile with a graceful "crunch."

Maybe it was the golden colors unfolding before them - the yellow and orange colored leaves cascading onto the street from the trees above them, the sunset giving off the brightest color gold he thought he had ever seen, Riley's yellow sweater blending with the color of the leaves, but Lucas felt the magic that Riley was talking about earlier. There was something special happening and he couldn't help but smile at Riley in complete awe.

"See?" Riley asked breathlessly, parting the wall of leaves in front of her with one hand to see Lucas smiling at her. "Fun, huh?"

"I think I could do anything with you and I'd have fun," Lucas admitted, adjusting his position in the leaves to get a better look at her.

"Good answer," Riley told him, reaching upwards to find her way out of the pile as she tried to stand up.

"Wait," Lucas grabbed her hand and pulled her back down before she could go anywhere. "Come here."

"What?"

"You have a leaf in your hair," Lucas sat up to pluck the orange leaf from her brown locks and held it up in the now-dwindling sunlight for Riley to see. "It reminds me of the leaf you gave me at the ski lodge? Remember?"

"Yeah, I do," Riley smiled as she carefully took the leaf from his hands and laid it carefully in her palm. "I don't know why, but I was drawn to that leaf the second I saw it. It blew over to me, and I just had to pick it up,"

"I know why," Lucas admitted, taking the hand that was not holding the leaf and grasping it with his. "You were meant to find that leaf. And you were meant to give it to me. That's why that leaf was blown over to you, just like how you fell into my lap that day on the subway. It was meant to be. And we were meant to be together."

"You got all of that from a leaf?" Riley asked, raising her eyebrows at him skeptically.

"Yeah, I did," Lucas told her, leaning in close and placing a hand on her cheek.

"Everything happens for a reason," Riley said in almost a whisper, resting her forehead against his and closing her eyes. She took a second to breathe everything in - the scent of the autumn leaves and Lucas leaning in so close to her and she couldn't help but smile contentedly out how perfect this moment was.

"That it does," Lucas agreed, brushing his nose with hers and smiling as their lips met for a brief but meaningful kiss. He pulled back suddenly to glance back at the steps in front of him and raised his eyebrows at her challengingly.

"Wanna go again?" Lucas asked, his lips curling into a small smile at the thought of wanting to repeat an activity that he previously tried to get out of.

"Race ya!" Riley announced, pushing off of the ground to launch herself into the air as she hurried back towards the front of the apartment building.

"You're on!"


	30. Can We Keep Him?

**Prompt:** "Your obsession with animals is going a little out of hand, don't you think?"

 **Title:** Can We Keep Him?

–

"Don't be mad!"

The door creaked open as Lucas peeked his head through the opening of the cramped two-bedroom house that he shared with his fiancé. He gripped the leash in one hand and held the door open with the other, making sure that Riley was not able to see what he was hiding on the other side of the door.

"What did you do?" Riley lowered the book she was reading to glare at him over the top of it and Lucas smiled guiltily into the living room as he met her gaze. Before Lucas had the chance to answer, the furry four legged friend that he was trying to keep a secret came bursting through the door and hopped onto the couch to stare up at Riley.

"I couldn't help it, Riley," Lucas fumbled for an explanation as the words came tumbling out of his mouth. "The way he was looking at me with those big brown eyes and that goofy grin he has going on - I mean, I would be a monster if I just walked away without a second thought, don't you think?"

Riley looked from the dog, to Lucas, and back again, unable to hide her amusement.

"You know, I've heard of people who like to bring their work home with them, but your obsession with animals is getting a little out of hand, don't you think?" she asked, shaking her head at both of the golden-haired figures sitting on either side of her.

"I'm a veterinarian, Riles, animals are my whole life," Lucas reminded her, reaching across her lap to pet the golden retriever. As Lucas leaned back, he noticed Riley raising her eyebrows at him and he quickly placed a reassuring arm around her shoulder. "Besides, you of course."

"Of course," Riley muttered, her lips forming a thin line as she tried her best to look annoyed. "Look, I love that you love animals so much, Lucas, but we're running out of space in this tiny house of ours. Maybe once we buy that ranch like we talked about, but at this point it looks like someone's going to be sleeping outside tonight, and you know that neither one of us could force one of the animals to sleep out there. Yikes. So unless you want to pitch that tent that's been collecting dust in the garage and build yourself a bed, I think we're going to have to say no on this one."

"Fair enough," Lucas nodded, standing from the chair and walking around the couch to take the dog's leash in his hands. "I'll find him a good home."

As Lucas moved to head back towards the front door, the dog moved in the opposite direction and hopped right onto Riley's lap. Staring up at her as if to say, 'you know you want me to be a part of this family,' Riley couldn't help herself from smiling ever so slightly, but she still refused to meet the dog's gaze.

"Lucas," Riley said, a tone of desperation to her voice that made the corners of Lucas' mouth tug into a faint smile.

"He just wants to say goodbye before I take him back to the clinic," Lucas explained, watching as Riley did everything in her power to avoid eye contact with the dog sitting in front of her.

"You know that if I look him in his eyes I won't be able to resist keeping him," Riley reminded him, throwing her head backwards and closing her eyes.

"I know," Lucas nodded, no longer able to hide his amused smile.

"And once I look him in his eyes, I'll have to name him," Riley continued, and the dog looked back at Lucas, panting happily as Riley's eyes remained tightly shut.

"Yep," Lucas gave the dog a thumbs up and he turned his head back to watch Riley.

"And then all hope is lost," Riley finished, throwing her hand over her eyes in exasperation.

"It's happened with the six other pets we have," Lucas said knowingly, glancing back at all of the toys and dog bowls in the corner of the living room.

"Then why aren't you pulling him off me?"

"He's just too strong for me, Riles," Lucas joked, clasping a hand over his mouth to suppress the laughter that was about to escape his mouth at the sight of her attempting to avoid looking in the dog's direction.

Unable to take it anymore, Riley lifted her head, and the dog saw it as an invitation to scoot even closer. With one swift motion, the dog's paw lifted gently onto her shoulder, and Riley's eyes flew open.

"Oh no," she mumbled, her brows knitting together as the anguish of caving in began to take over her expression.

"There it is," Lucas muttered under his breath, watching as Riley lifted a hand to rub the dog's belly affectionately. "Well, I guess we should get going then, right Riley?"

Lucas took a step forward to usher the dog off Riley's lap, but Riley suddenly stood and he leaped to the ground.

"Oh, just take the leash off, you and Copper aren't going anywhere," Riley announced as she stomped off into the kitchen, trying her best to look exasperated, but instead looking as though she knew that this was going to happen all along.

"We did it, boy," Lucas congratulated him, rubbing his head and undoing the leash from his collar. "Welcome to the family, Copper."


	31. I Just Need a Hug

**Prompt:** "I just need a hug"

* * *

"Riley, what's on your shirt?"

As Lucas crawled through the bay window to enter Riley's room, the first thing he noticed was the giant red stain on the white shirt with the little pink flowers that he had seen her wear a thousand times.

"What are you talking about?" Riley asked, furrowing her brows in confusion as she glanced down at the corner of the shirt that Lucas was gesturing to.

"No!" Riley exclaimed, rubbing at the fabric furiously in an attempt the make the stain disappear. "This was my favorite shirt. It was the right kind of soft that felt good on your skin without being too itchy and stretched without being too stretchy. It was perfect and now it's ruined."

"Maybe we can get some stain remover and-" Lucas suggested, but Riley simply brushed him off and collapsed onto the bench of the bay window in defeat.

"It's no use," Riley muttered, looking at the stain one last time before folding her arms over it so she wouldn't have to look at it anymore. "I just need to accept the fact that today is the worst day to ever exist in the history of terrible days."

"Says the least dramatic person to ever roam the face of the earth," Lucas teased, stepping closer to the bay window and taking a seat next to her.

"Do not mock," Riley warned, pointing her finger at him and glaring menacingly. "My pain is real, Lucas."

"Okay, besides the giant ketchup stain on your shirt, what else happened?" Lucas turned in his seat slightly so that his body was completely facing hers, and she quickly followed suit by moving her legs into a crisscross position on the bench.

"Well it all started when Auggie ate the last of my favorite cereal this morning. Then I couldn't find one of my purple sparkly earrings that glimmer in the sunlight, then I lost my balance on the subway," Riley explained, but was quickly cut off by Lucas placing one hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Wait a minute, you didn't land in another guy's lap did you, because I don't think I'm okay with that," Lucas informed her, keeping his voice light and playful, even though he knew that there was more than a hint of truth to that statement.

"Relax, Lucas. Yours is the only lap that I would ever fall onto," Riley assured him, and she couldn't help but smile at the wave of relief that seemed to cross his face as she said this.

"Good answer," Lucas smirked. "Continue."

Riley took a deep breath as she prepared to finish her story, but then leaned back onto the wall of pillows as if she had suddenly lost all the energy she had left to say another word.

"Nah, you get the point," Riley sighed, waving her hand in front of her face as if to say, 'forget it.' "It pretty much went from bad to extremely terrible to 'how on earth is she still standing,' from that point on. Nothing worth mentioning."

"I'm sorry, Riles," Lucas gave her a small smile as he placed a comforting hand on her knee. "What do you need from me?"

Riley raised her eyes to meet his, slowly pouting her bottom lip in an attempt to make herself seem as pitiful as possible.

"I just need a hug," Riley confessed, holding her arms out to him expectantly.

"That, I can definitely do," Lucas agreed, scooting closer to her on the bench so that their knees knocked together as they turned in their seats to fold one another into the embrace.

Lucas wrapped his arms around Riley, pulling her in close to him. She slowly lowered her head to rest it comfortably on his shoulder, and he smiled at how natural it felt. "You know, today might not have gone the way you wanted it to, but the best thing about having a tomorrow is that you get the chance to do it all differently - to move on, and act like today never happened."

"Who taught you that garbage?" Riley scoffed, adjusting her position slightly so she should could look up at him with questioning eyes.

"You did," Lucas laughed, and Riley sat back in her seat to raise her eyebrows at him in mock-disbelief.

"Boy. Am I annoying or what?" Riley shook her head at him, and he met her gaze with a smile.

"No, you're smart," Lucas told her, nudging her arm playfully and smirking. "And you're right. So shake it off, take a deep breath, and move on to tomorrow."

Riley looked up at him for a moment without saying a single word. Lucas knew exactly what to say to her. He knew exactly how to make her feel better. And she knew that she would be forever grateful that she had him in her life.

"Thank you, Lucas," Riley said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"That's what I'm here for," Lucas reminded her, and it wasn't until he looked down that he realized that their hands were folded together neatly on his lap. "Well, that and to give you as many hugs as you could possibly want."

"I like the sound of that," Riley admitted, lowering her head back onto his shoulder and squeezing his hand tightly, feeling like this was the exact moment she needed to turn her terrible day into something perfect.


	32. What Makes Us Real

This has been on my mind for awhile. I've seen people trying to lessen Riley and Lucas' relationship because they're not acting the way they think a 'real couple' should act. But instead of writing a long rant about it, I decided to express it in the way I know best - through writing. So I wrote a little fic where Riley and Lucas discuss what makes their relationship real to them. Hope you like it.

 **Title:** What Makes Us Real

 **Pairing:** Rucas

–

"I heard someone talking about us at lunch today."

Riley appeared in the doorway of Topanga's to meet Lucas at their usual spot near the front entrance of the bakery. Their friends usually joined them, but since it was just the two of them today, Riley took the chair right next to Lucas and folded her leg underneath her as she turned to face him.

"Did I have spinach in my teeth again?" Lucas' eyes went wide as he reached up to touch his mouth self consciously. "I thought you checked and said I was all clear!"

"No, no nothing like that," Riley laughed nervously, rubbing her palms across the leg of her jeans and slowly raising her eyes to meet his gaze. "They were saying that it was weird how we never act like a real couple in front of everyone at school."

"A real couple?" Lucas repeated, furrowing his brows together in confusion. "What does that even mean?"

"I think they meant how we never hold hands in the hallway or kiss each other's faces all the time or something like that," Riley shook her head as if she wasn't sure what she was talking about, and Lucas raised his eyebrows at her.

"That's what they think makes a real couple?" Lucas scoffed, unable to wrap his head around this statement. "That's all that matters to them?"

"Apparently," Riley nodded, picking up a pencil from the coffee table in front of them and tapping it on her knee.

"So having meaningful conversations about what's important to us, smiling at each other all goofy-like from across the room, showing how much we like each other in our own ways like a jellybean in an engagement ring box - that doesn't make us a real couple?"

"I guess it doesn't," Riley admitted, shrugging her shoulders as if she couldn't believe that this was what people actually thought about their relationship. "Not to them anyways."

"What about you?" Lucas asked, turning in his seat to look at her expectantly. "Do you think it's weird that we don't always do those kinds of things?"

"No, I don't," Riley admitted quickly, sounding completely sure of herself. "We just started dating, you know? We're still trying to figure out who we are as individuals so I think it's still going to take us a while to figure out who we are as a couple. I think that we're proving to ourselves how important our connection is even without holding hands every minute of everyday. That's not who we are right now. That's not what makes us special. We know what makes us special."

"We don't have to fit their definition of a perfect couple," Lucas added, his voice beginning to raise as the annoyance brought on by other people's opinions started to settle into his tone.

"Because we're not perfect in the sense that they're trying to label us," Riley continued. "We're our own kind of perfect."

"And that's what makes our relationship real," Lucas finished for her, beaming from ear to ear as his gaze locked on hers. "I couldn't agree more. But you're forgetting that I do hold your hand. A lot."

"Oh, I know, I couldn't make it through a scary movie without it," Riley admitted, and Lucas smiled at the memory of Riley desperately grasping for his hand the second anything jumped out on the screen in the movie theater.

"So what do you think?" Lucas asked, raising one eyebrow at her and giving her an amused smile. "Real couple?"

"Hmm," Riley thought about this for a moment, tapping one finger against her chin dramatically. "I don't know. Talk to me about it until the sun comes up and I'll let you know."

"Deal," Lucas agreed, leaning forward to playfully nudge her in the side with his elbow.

"I might even let you hold my hand," Riley smirked, crossing one leg over the other and quickly turning back towards Lucas to point a finger at him. "But for the record, it's only because my hands get really cold and your hand warms it up really quickly, not because I need you to hold it to validate our being together."

"Of course," Lucas smirked, reaching forward to remove his water bottle from the side pocket of his backpack and taking a sip.

"There was one thing I was kind of wondering about though," Riley admitted, glancing down at her hands nervously without meeting Lucas' gaze. "Our second first kiss. I think it's long overdue, don't you?"

"My moment will be my moment, remember?" Lucas reminded her, referring back to the promise he made during Romeo and Juliet rehearsals all those years ago.

"I thought you already had your moment at the ski lodge," Riley pointed out, and Lucas smiled at her mischievously.

"I plan on having several moments, a thousand different ways," Lucas informed her.

"I like the sound of that," Riley beamed, scooting forward on her chair to reach for the books inside her backpack.

They both sat quietly for a moment as Riley pulled out her homework and Lucas continued to work on his. After a few minutes, Lucas dropped his pencil and turned to look at Riley.

"Hey, Riley?" Lucas called to her softly, lightly tapping the top of the page that she was reading from with his finger to catch her attention.

"Yes, Lucas?" Riley looked up from her English book to meet Lucas' warm smile.

"Just in case I haven't said it in a while - I really like you."

Riley realized in that moment that she didn't care what other people thought about their relationship. She knew that her relationship with Lucas was real because he cared enough to tell her things like this when she didn't even ask him to. Or that he kept a jellybean to put inside an engagement ring box to show her that she was the one he chose all along. Those little moments. Those little gestures. That is what made their relationship real in her mind. That is what mattered. And everything else could wait.

"I really like you too, Lucas."


End file.
